Flight of the Phoenix
by Lady Evans Potter
Summary: While Kai was living at the Abbey, unknown things happened to him, things that would not be remembered or found before years had gone by...
1. Prologue

**Flight of the Phoenix**

**Authored by**: Lady Evans Potter

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Beyblade, nor do I make any profit from writing this.

**Summary**: While Kai was living at the Abbey, unknown things happened to him, things that would not be remembered or found before years had gone by.

Pairings: As of now, it's decided if there shall be any. If/when I decide, and then I shall add it at the beginning of first added chapter.

**Dedication: **RobbXmonXlover, for being my forever lasting advisor. Moondalian for being great to talk to and listen to my crazy ideas… not to mention telling me that murder is _not_ the solution to all bad characters that won't behave, or even so called friends for being false… never mind, ignore that last part. I'm not sane anymore.

**Prologue**

The eight year old boy ran through the corridors of the Balkov Abbey. Luckily he knew his way around, therefore it was easy to get where he wanted. He just had to make sure no one saw him. The other children were doing their drills while the trainers were watching them, but he had hid while they had been gathered. He had something to retrieve.

Kai stopped in front of a glass barrier, looking into a testing room as he caught his breath. It was still there. He had to get it. He just had to. The Black Dranzer would be finally his. It had drawn him to it from the second it was launched. It should always be his.

He broke the window, and ran to the launcher the blade was placed on. He reached up, and got it loose. It looked so at home in his hands, as if it was meant to be there, as it of course was in his opinion. He pulled fourth his own blade launcher, loaded Black Dranzer on it, and launched it.

Such power… it felt so good, and it would always be his. Suddenly it felt like the bit beast wanted to break free from him.

_Nooo_, he couldn't lose control of it now! What would happen if someone discovered him?

Sounds of footsteps closing were heard and Kai knew he had to do something. The Black Dranzer was supposed to be off limits to ALL students. Not that he was one to follow rules, though. Not to mention the Black Dranzer was supposed to be his, not that he knew how he knew that.

He tried to override Black Dranzer's urges of trying to take control over himself by using more power to do so, but it only worked to strengthen the bit beast. The blade spun out of control and attacked the very buildings that housed the Abbey, as if he was angry at it.

Kai passed out as the bit beast attached himself to Kai's emotions in a way that would go unnoticed for a long time.

**AN:**

It was decided, once consulting with a friend, that I should post the prologue a bit ahead of the others parts in this story, which while having been begun and are mostly planned, will take time, and hopefully attract attention of readers.

Tell me what you think of it, please? I will probably post the next part as soon as it's done, but it may take some time. I'm studying at the University of Stavanger, at the moment, studying English to be exact. Just read _Macbeth_, and I must admit reading plays are not my favorite part of reading. It's hard, studying, but I will try to do my best. Not to mention trying to take time to write. Got to love those group rooms you can enter and lock to be alone and work on things. Laughing insanely while writing may be accepted then. xD

Aaaanyway, I think I mentioned I love getting feedback, and if I'm lucky, this will be done before NaNoWriMo, which I'm planning on competing in on the advice of Moondalian. Hopefully she is right, and I'll complete the 50 000 words required to be a winner there. :P

OH! I forgot. I am not sure whether to make this a pairing story or not, as it will be following the anime greatly, but will be different at certain points. Not sure exactly how yet, will see that when I write it. But _if_ I decide to make it a pairing story, then it will be Kai/Tyson. It's the only pairing that is right, in my opinion. Sure, I'm biased; it's my favorite pairing, hardly read anything else that is not that pairing.

Damn, long AN, sorry about that. Do feel free to review.

Lady Evans Potter


	2. Chapter 1, part 1

**Flight of the Phoenix**

Authored by: Lady Evans Potter

**Disclamier:** If I owned this, would I write a story on it for NaNoWriMo? No? Therefore I don't own it.

**Dedication:**Moondalian, for introducing me to National Novel Writing Month, and who keeps urging me to write to catch up with her. :P

_However, this story will probably be dived into chapters and parts, seeing as, in writing moment, chapter 1 is over 21 000 words, and more coming._

**Chapter 1, part one**

_Five years later_

Kai walked up to the warehouse that was used by his gang of thugs as a headquarters. He heard Carlos and Stewart battling while Casey and Trevor was commenting it. It seemed like the blue haired guy was losing, probably because he didn't have the other two thugs that Stewart preferred to call team mates, backing him up in the dish.

'_Weaklings. As if they have any powers at blading. They're only good as thugs to gather information._' Kai thought as he passed them. He was going to do some training of his own.

Once he was in a hidden room two levels above the ground, he launched Dranzer into his private, smaller bey dish. He let his bit beast Dranzer out, watching as he enjoyed being free from his blade at that moment. Oh well, someone wanted to have playtime, not practice time.

He wondered if they would ever find the ultimate blade that held the best bit beast in the world. It was his mission, if you could call it that. He was sitting on the floor, thinking and enjoying solace when he heard the other Blade Sharks quarrel. He got up quietly, and walked until he stood a place he was able to watch them without them seeing him.

"There is no way possible that you could ever find that blade Kai is looking for, Carlos! You are too much of a coward for even trying to do it."

"I am not! Just watch me." He said, and then he ran out of the warehouse.

'_Hmm, this could be interesting_', though Kai, and walked silently out, following Carlos to watch what he did.

-

The little shark went through Bey City trashing the blades of small kiddies as easy as stealing candy from a baby. Kai had been watching Carlos trashing that tall guy the groupies called Andrew. It was so easy, it seemed like. It was like no one had any power at blading. Amateurs, the lot of them. Then suddenly a new dude came out the door, and began babbling.

When Carlos trash talked him, that blue haired guy began to preach about how the sport of bey blading was supposed to be, and that stealing blades was wrong. The unfortunate guy then thought he was smart, and challenged him. _'What a loser._' Kai thought, and then disappeared, figuring he could watch the match for fun the following day.

-

Kai stood out of sight as he was watching Carlos waiting for the newbie that had challenged the shark. Now, you must understand that to get into Kai's little gang of Blade Sharks you had to be good at blading, and Carlos was. He was just way to overconfident, and that usually ended up being his greatest weakness.

He heard Carlos trash talking about making the winder longer, which apparently was a mistake in his eyes. Kai knew better. If wielded by the right person, a longer winder would make all the difference in the world. And apparently the kid known as Tyson had figured out how.

"Why don't you just give me your Beyblade instead of wasting my time?" Kai heard Carlos ask, and smirked. As if he would win. "What? I've never seen a blade so powerful." '_Yes, Carlos, you have. You've seen my Dranzer.'_ He thought, smirking. And as he had predicted, Carlos lost the battle.

He heard the other kids talking, celebrating Tyson's victory. Carlos grabbed his bag of blades, intending on running, not keeping his promise about returning the blades he had stolen. Then he spotted his leader.

Kai stood on the hill, in plain sight and with the sun behind him, and watched as Carlos began to cower. He always was too afraid of Kai. He knew the consequences of failure. Kai looked severely annoyed, and suddenly Carlos realized there would be hell to pay.

Kai jumped down to the river bank, watching Carlos and the people behind him, whom were watching with curiosity.

"I always knew this day would come. You have proven yourself unworthy, Carlos." Kai said, and then stepped on one of the stolen blades, destroying it.

"No! No, don't!" Carlos exclaimed. The only reply was Kai hitting him, making him fall with the force of it. Kai turned, and began to walk away.

"Hey!" It seemed like that blue longhaired guy had something to say.

He sighed, knowing he would not get his peace for this time.

"Just who do you think you are, coming around here like that, some kind of tough guy?" Someone must be feeling very brave. Kai knew his aura screamed of danger, and this kid thought he was one to challenge him?

"The name is Kai. I'm leader of the Blade Sharks, kid." He half turned as he said that.

"Huh? Let's play!"

"No!" some kid in the background with big glasses seemed to think that was a bad idea. "Don't, Tyson, don't! Look, the Blade Sharks are the toughest bey gang around. They've never been beaten before." Oh, someone had done their homework in research.

"Challenge accepted." Kai stated. "But first I must warn you. Take a look." Kai pulled forth Dranzer. The bit piece was in plain sight, but probably a newbie like him would not know what it was. "My Dranzer blade."

"Wow…" Tyson looked awestruck.

They both got ready for the small battle, and waited for Andrew give the signal.

"Leeeet it rip!" Tyson said as he launched his blade. Kai smirked as he launched Dranzer. '_Go ahead and try, Tyson!'_ He let Dranzer circle the stadium a few times before attacking slightly.

"Hn." Kai pretended to be bored with the battle already, but was secretly wondering who this boy was. Tyson made an unwise move and launched Dranzer into the air.

"What's going on?" Tyson seemed surprised that the blade was not done yet.

"That's it! Kai's blade is feeding of the energy of Tyson's blade, and that makes both of them equal."

"Finish him!"

"Battle's only started." Kai smirked, feeling secure in the knowledge that he would win. He let Tyson's blade lift his up into the air again, not reacting at such a move.

"Oh no, what's Kai up to now?" The young boy with glasses asked, before watching Kai trash Tyson's blade completely.

"He… wasted my beyblade." Tyson sounded defeated after that defeat.

"You see, Carlos, if you understand how to feed of your opponents strength, you win."

"What? That's not fair! Bet's off!" Tyson exclaimed.

"Come on, let's go." Kai commanded. He then walked away from the river, heading in the direction of his warehouse, the headquarters of the Blade Sharks.

"Hey you, come back here!" He heard Tyson trying to call him back, but his battle was over – for now.

-

Kai led Carlos back to the warehouse, intending on teaching him a lesson he wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. A look at the others in the gang left them standing around as punishment was to be dealt out for Carlos.

"You have embarrassed the Blade Sharks, Carlos. We have never lost a match."

"No, no, no, please, Kai! You can't do this to me!" He begged.

"Sorry." Not that Kai sounded apologetic at all.

"I'll do anything."

"Too late."

The three calling themselves Shell Sharks launched their blades, and ripped Carlos' to pieces. Trevor, Stewart and Casey were happy to obey Kai's every command. Carlos could be heard begging for them to stop it, while Kai just smirked at it. It was so fun, messing with people. As the blade was destroyed, Kai let Carlos go from where he had been restrained.

"No…"

"You disappoint me, Carlos." A mere look ensured that some of the others removed Carlos from Kai's presence. "Any word on that beyblade we've been looking for?"

"Yeah, I heard something pretty interesting, about these guys who are rebuilding a beyblade." Stated Stewart, "Supposedly that kid they call the Chief has been collecting data on blades from around the world."

"And I heard that he keeps all the beyblade information in a laptop that he talks to." Casey sounded astonished when he said the last part. Apparently talking to a laptop was a bit too much for him.

"Very interesting," stated Kai.

"According to my sources, they don't live to far from here, so if you want we can check them out." Said Stewart.

"Not a bad idea." Kai said, then began walking away from the group, hearing them begin to plan how to retrieve the Chief the easiest way.

-

Kai stared down at the kid that the three sharks had brought back. Hmm, too big glasses, plain hair, looking a bit geeky. Well, he supposed it could have been worse. It could have been, Kai _shuddered_, one of his fan boys that were always being copycats on his clothing style. That was just horrible to look at. Not to mention, very annoying.

He watched the kid struggle against Trevor and Casey while Stewart turned on the laptop.

"Welcome, you have new mail." Oh, it seemed like it made sense why the kid spoke to the laptop, if it could speak back to him. The kid and Stewart began arguing about the laptop, as the kid demanded it back. "Is this all the data you have?"

"Excuse me, but your hands are cold." Apparently, the laptop had a personality that could bite. Kai bit back a smirk. It was just the way he liked things; feisty.

"I thought you were supposed to know everything there is about bey blading."

"I do know everything, but you'll never get it out of me."

Kai turned his head as he heard a new voice.

"Get your filthy hands of him!"

"Tyson! Andrew!"

"Huh?"

"Hey, Stewart, it seems like we have company."

"I challenge you to a battle, and winner takes all." The newcomer exclaimed.

"No, don't do it Tyson, you can't win. That blade is not nearly strong enough to take on the sharks and you know it."

"Don't worry, I have a secret weapon." Tyson said, seemingly confident.

"Stop flapping your tongue and let's see what you got." Casey said, breaking his knuckles in anticipation of a battle. Four other sharks appeared at those words, and it caused Kai to want to join the action.

"Wait." Kai said, and the other kids that invaded _his_ headquarters looked up in shock, not having noticed him earlier. He jumped of the beam he had been standing on, landing in front of them. "I'll take it from here."

"But Kai..."

"Enough."

"Uh, sure."

There was something about that blade, Kai was sure of it. Tyson, if that was his name, seemed to be sure he could win, and seeing as he ended up with a trashed blade last time he battled Kai, that had to count for something. At an unnoticed sign, the flood lights at the top beams were turned on.

"So you've come back for more. Just know one thing, kid; you can't beat me." Yeah, he knew he was a fountain of self confidence.

"Well, we'll just see about that." The blue haired kid said.

"Hn."

In the background, Kai could hear his sharks and the genius kid talking. He was rather wondering briefly why Tyson was staring at his blade, as if he asked something of it without voicing it out loud. Hmm, he'd think about that later.

"Hey, you're ready?" Tyson said, apparently done doing whatever he was doing.

They loaded their blades in the launchers, adopting a launching stance as they did so.

"Let it riiiip!" The blades were launched, and the battle was on. Tyson's blade went as it at once, attacking Dranzer viciously.

"I thought you'd learned by now. There is no way you can beat me." Kai stated. It only enraged Tyson to hear that, so he only continued his attack.

"You fool."

The blade attacked Dranzer managed to lift it up in the air, making it a replica of the last battle they had had.

"Not again!"

Suddenly the blade in the stadium began circling, causing a tornado, just where Kai's Dranzer was going down. It looked like Tyson was going to win, at least from his point of view.

"If you think this fight is over, you're wrong. Battle on, Dranzer!" Kai commanded, and the blade obeyed him. "No one can beat the power of my bey blade." He called forth Dranzer to battle, but not to be completely visible yet. The bit glowed red with the power it was about to unleash.

"Hey, his blade just lit up. What in the world is going on here?"

"Battle on, Dranzer."

Kai stared as the bit piece of the other blade also lit up, mimicking what had just transpired with his blade moments ago. He had an idea of where this was going, but surely that had to be wrong...?

His belief was proven to be true when a blue dragon erupted from the other blade, while Dranzer rose from his own blade. He felt surprise at seeing another bit beast, as he had never imagined that the blue haired kid would have one.

'_How could it be? This new blader doesn't seem to know what power he has at his fingertips, if the gaping look on his face is anything to go by.'_

Dranzer went head to head with the dragon, fighting as well as he could. Fighting against the dragon, which actually had powers of his own, Dranzer was left with a tie, which was a rather surprising result, seeing as Kai close to never lost, let alone tied, to anyone.

"What just happened here?" Tyson said, sounding surprised about what had just occurred.

"Man that was freaky." The tall guy said.

"Did you see the Dragoon? He smashed head to head with that birdy thingy."

"I've never seen anything like that before. And how did that dragon get inside your blade?"

"Are you too blind to see?" Kai said, in his usual tone of indifference.

"Hey there, what do you mean?" Tyson sounded surprised that Kai was even talking to him, as he thought the other boy to be keeping his holier-than-thou act, which included not speaking to lowly peasants as himself.

"Then I'll explain it to you." He took a breath, and then continued." Your blue dragon and my red phoenix are trapped within our blades. And not every blade possesses the spirit of the beast. "

In the background the shell sharks made comments about not understand a bit about what Kai was talking about.

"Our blades aren't ordinary. Our blades are powered by incredible forces that are trapped within. Yours is the power of the Dragoon, and mine is powered by the Dranzer."

"Will someone untie me now?" The chief demanded, cutting of Kai from his small explanation.

"In time, my friend." Kai said, mockingly about the last part.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Tyson said, but then cowered back as half a dozen sharks came forth with blades ready to be launched.

Kai walked away, and once he was half hidden in the shadows again, he looked down on Dranzer. He was half trashed, leaving notices about needing to be repaired.

"If you think this battle is over, you are sadly mistaken. It only just begun." He disappeared in the shadows.

-

He was sitting in his room, reflecting over the news that Mr. Dickenson had just called to inform him of. Another tournament. Another demand. Another request.

As the reigning champion of bey blading, Kai was required, or rather requested, to compete. He wondered if there would be any decent competition this time. Last time there had been none. It had been boring as hell. It's no fun without good competition.

But then there was Tyson. The kid was an enigma. He came out of nowhere, suddenly acquiring a bit beast out of the blue. He would probably compete in the upcoming tournament. He wondered if they would battle.

He knew Tyson would go further than the preliminary rounds if he attended to the competition. That blue dragon of his would also no doubt help him assure him that would happen. Maybe he would even go as far as to the finals, and meet Kai there? Who knew? Well, Kai didn't, but it suspected as much.

-

Dranzer ripped though the blades in the dish as the regional qualifying rounds began. Kai knew that this was merely a formality as he knew he would win. As soon as the disk was cleared, he recalled Dranzer and left the stadium floor, heading for a room to be alone in. He never was too fond of crowds, and the tournaments always included a lot of people.

He heard the commentator announcing block B, and that it was won by some kid called Max Tate. Kai wondered briefly if he would be the one to face Kai in the semi-finals. He was probably just some kid that got lucky.

Kai headed out to the stadium as the third block was about to begin. He took a look at the competition and deemed them all unworthy of his time. He let Dranzer loose, and got down to trashing blades. He knew he would wi- what? A _bouncing_ bey blade? Since when was that in fashion?

His mask of indifference fell for some seconds before he regained it. Still, it was a bit hard to believe what people were willing to try to beat him.

"... I can't believe we're going to beat Kai." The kid was, apparently, talking to himself and being hallucinating on the top of it. Beating Kai? Like that would ever happen.

"Dream on." A smirking Kai said. He knew that a spring-loaded blade would _never_ be able to defeat him. He had the power of his bit beast backing him up, not to mention many years of training. This was just some rookie kid trying to conquer the master.

"Huh?"

"How do you expect to defeat me without ever attacking? Nice try, but you'll never conquer the power of my Dranzer." Kai said.

"_Looks like Kai is doing a bit of trash talking, Topside." _

"_He's really slinging it, and it's Topper."_

"_Yeah, work bro."_

"Dranzer, attack now!"

Dranzer replied to his master's call, and prepared for the attack that was going to trash the other blade.

"Oh no, the only way I can stand a chance against Kai's attack is if I get a lucky bounce." Kenny sounded a bit desperate at the seemingly impossible situation he was in now.

"For once I wish this tournament would bring in some half decent competition for me."

"I'm not getting it, and I'm about to be annihilated."

"This is beginning to get really boring. Dranzer, attack."

The kid's blade went out of the stadium in pieces as Dranzer finished his work. A shout of despair was heard, but Kai ignored it. He let the blade spin for a little while.

"By my calculations it is impossible for a blade to do that. It should have stopped spinning a long time ago." Kenny said.

"Oh, really? Well, maybe you're not as smart as you think you are, brainiac."

"_Let's hear it for the winner of block C; The one and only Kai."_

"_No matter how you slice it folks, it's truly a treat to be in the company of sheer greatness."_

"_Thanks Brad." _

"_I was talking about Kai."_

Kai turned and began to walk away. Ahead of him, Tyson had appeared in front of the entrance to the rest rooms and the way out.

"Hey! You and me, right here."

"Tyson, don't." Kenny interfered, not wanting to let things get dirty.

"Chief, would you let go of me? I won't let this worthless creep get away with fighting dirty, so back off. Let me at him."

"You'll get kicked out! Come on, Tyson, he beat me fair and square. I underestimated him, and I lost, so please don't do anything crazy and get disqualified. Listen to me; do the right thing and beat him in the bey stadium." Kenny said, then let go of the arm he held to restrain Tyson from attacking Kai.

"I guess you're right. "

"Everything's going to be alright. You got to trust me, okay?"

"Thanks chief."

"Haha. That is, of course, if you think you're up to it." Kai said mockingly.

"Huh?"

"But I really doubt that. "

"Oh yeah?! Just you wait! I'll wipe that grin right off your face!" Tyson growled at the end of that speak, he was just so annoyed at Kai.

"Eh, yeah. Whatever." Kai said, and then walked out of sight.

-

Kai sat in the stands overlooking the bey dish, waiting for block D to begin. He had a feeling that Tyson would be in it, too. That would be interesting, as four of the Blade Sharks were also in it. Not that he really expected them to win. They might be good, but Tyson was probably better, if the battle with Kai some days ago was something to judge by. It was not like the sharks were any good, compared to him.

The battle began, and the rookies were the first to go. Soon in were just four sharks and Tyson left. Since the dish was filled with beyblade parts, the five went to the second dish, which was a more complex one. Instead of being just a bowl, it had obstacles, and that could be a deciding factor once the battle begun.

And so it began.

The sharks, except Carlos, attacked Tyson at once, with what they called 'triangle attack'. It worked on some kind of principle that electric energy caused sparks to erupt, and could stimulate an electric triangle that was supposed to be impossible to survive.

But Tyson had not tied with Kai for nothing. He evaded the attack, while trying to work out a strategy that would ensure his victory.

And he found one; He went through an obstacle that was of wood and split like a Y, shocking the hell out of the trio. And left them colliding with it, whereas Trevor and Casey lost their blades. Stewart managed to evade it, and attacked Tyson. But he did certainly not expect Carlos to attack him and rip his blade to pieces.

Though, as Carlos loudly stated; s_urvival of the fittest _could almost be considered a motto of Kai's. He had no time to waste on low-lives that could not win battles for him. He wanted power, and losers could not achieve that for him.

If he had to search through the entire world to find it, Kai would. He had a feeling he knew what he was searching for, but he could not remember it to save his life. Not that he would ever tell someone he did not remember parts of his own past. It would be a weakness.

Kai looked down on the battle again, and saw that Tyson seemed to have found a way to make his blade invisible to the naked eye. He had a feeling it had something to do with the rotation speed of the blade. Not that Kai himself would ever use such a defensive move, as he was a more attacking blader. The same went for Dranzer. He didn't like using defensive moves unless it was to dodge an attack, or completely necessary.

Carlos never stood a chance now. And he was not surprised when Tyson ended the match soon after that, leaving Carlos' blade in pieces. Who would have though the kid actually _could_ rip blades to pieces? Had he not been an opponent with too much honour, and a cause to fight for, Kai might even have granted him a place in the Blade Sharks, should he ever have wanted it.

-

The next battle was Kai against yet another unknown kid that had made it his way into the semi-finals. His name was Max Tate, and he and Tyson apparently had a deal to meet in the finals. Kai would love to spoil that, as he planned on getting to the finals himself and meet Rei or Tyson there, depending on whoever would win the other semi-final battle.

The tower dish was ridiculous in Kai's opinion, and he almost laughed when he heard the other blader mutter about how the heck he was supposed to get the blade up in the tower. Not that the kid would ever win. Kai had Dranzer, and he knew he would win. He was a bit surprised when the kid was able to use Kai's attack against his blade to just fall without losing spin.

"_Welcome to Collisionville, population two."_

True, that commentator might a bit right, as Dranzer and the other blade clashed head to head. Suddenly the blade broke loose from the battle, and headed up into the tower dish, wanting to get the ten seconds over with.

But Kai and Dranzer was not done yet. He sent Dranzer into the air, letting loose an avian attack. Dranzer hit the blade in a way that caused it to stop spinning, and sending it out of the dish. It shocked Max. And that was Kai's intention. He wanted the kid to know that he was not some rookie who couldn't blade. He was real, and he was damn well going to win. Failure was not an option. This time, that is.

'_Not bad, kid, but until you have a bit beast of your own, you'll never stand up to the power of my Dranzer._' Kai smirked, enjoying the feeling of victory.

The kid looked at his blade, and then seemed to be reflecting on the battle. He grinned, and prepared to launch his blade, backwards surprisingly. He had probably worked out some lame strategy that wasn't going to work anyway.

"Ready for more?" Kai said.

"I've never been more ready."

The battle started, and Max surprisingly managed to land his blade in the middle of the tower dish from the start.

'_I don't know what you're up to, Max, but it ends now._'

Dranzer attacked, and Kai trash talked. "If you were hoping to catch me off guard, then I'm afraid you've come up short. Dranzer, spin fire attack!"

And so the previous battle began to repeat itself as Kai's Dranzer readied for the same attack as before. The impact between the two blades could possibly be tracked on the Richter's scale as the attack caused the entire stadium to shake.

But somehow, Max's blade was not out of the game yet, even if it had stopped spinning.

"That was some pretty cleaver stunt you pulled, but all you did was delaying my victory. Dranzer, finish him off."

"Hah, you fell for it! Now that I changed the spin direction, I can use Dranzer's own power against him. How cool is that?"

And, as Max predicted, so it happened. Max's blade absorbed Dranzer's energy, and left it without any spin, thus winning the second battle.

While Max exclaimed happily about the plan working, suddenly something happened in the dish. Max's blade's bit self-destructed, and hit the medallion he had inherited from his grandmother. It caused a major shock, as he had never expected that to happen.

'_Tough, break, and just when it was getting interesting._'

He heard the announcer asking Max if he was ready for the tiebreaker, or if he was throwing in the towel. Kai really didn't care, he just wanted to battle. Max looked down at his blade, and seemed to be thinking about something. He suddenly inserted something into his blade. Dranzer reacted to it, but Kai put it off as being psyched for battle.

The third battle begun as Kai and Max launched their blades. The blades briefly circled the stadium, before going up the hilt of the tower dish and entering it. They went on the attack, as the battle raged on.

"You play the game well, but now it's time to end it, once and for all. Dranzer, now!"

The blade attacked as the master commanded, driving the newly named Draciel backwards. After a little while, Max' blade lit up with a purple light glowing from the bit. A giant purple tortoise erupted from the blade, surprising Kai. Maybe that explained why Dranzer had been restless.

"Welcome, Draciel!" Max called out. It seemed like a defensive bit beast, but it couldn't be known for sure until Draciel, if that was its name, had been in battle. And who better, than Kai's own Dranzer?

"Interesting." '_You may have a powerful force at your control, but none is more powerful than my Dranzer._' Kai smirked. He had no doubts about the fact that he would win this battle.

"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Max said, sounding excited as Draciel slammed into Dranzer, sending him spinning in the air.

But what could be said to be a smart move for someone was an invitation to end the battle to others. The blade's bit lit up, and Dranzer was cleared for takeoff.

"Oh yeah!"

"I wouldn't be so pleased if I were you." Kai smirked.

"Why?" Max sounded surprised.

A beam of red erupted from the blade, and the Phoenix known as Dranzer came to sight. It was magnificent, it was powerful, and it was damn well going to win.

Max gaped at the great phoenix that was now revealed. He now understood Tyson's warning about not taking Kai too lightly, that he was a force to be reckoned with.

Dranzer continued the avian attack, and easily knocked Max's blade out of the stadium.

-

Walking out of the stadium once again, Kai was surprised to be called on by the very boy he just defeated.

"Hey Kai! Well, I guess you showed me. That was the best battle ever!"

"What's your game?"

"Oh, I'm serious. You were awesome out there! So I thought I'd come to congratulate you, Kai."

Of course he was awesome. Kai always strived to be the perfect blader, and that included being awesome when he was battling.

"Well, thanks I guess." '_I'm going to have to keep my eyes on that kid, now that he controls the power of a bit beast.'_

He turned and walked away, leaving Max standing in the hallway.

-

From the stands, Kai watched as the two contesting bladers trash talked for a bit, before the announcer called them forth to battle. Tyson seemed annoyed, causing Kai to smirk.

The battle began as soon as they let it rip, and Tyson didn't waste much time before using the spin illusion to hide his blade. It came back from the air, and attacked Driger. But Ray was not to be underestimated. Driger countered, and attacked back, shedding pieces of Dragoon as the tiger he really was. Dragoon left the stadium partly in pieces, making Rei the victorious.

Kai smirked as he heard Ray reply to the announcer that he didn't have the time to wait while Tyson was looking for a solution to his ripped apart blade. Talking about building pressure, this only served to anger Tyson.

The blade had been repaired, after the Chief came to the rescue that is, and the second round was set to being. The blades were launched, and the battle begun. The fast friction of the blades actually caused sparks to erupt, when Dragoon and Driger went head to head. Driger began attacking, trying the Tiger Claw attack again, but it didn't impact the blade this time as it did last time. Dragoon caused a storm to come forth with his spinning around the dish, and Driger was trapped within. But that did not mean defeat, as Driger ripped the storm apart, and shoot out of his blade in a green beam of light. The tiger was magnificent.

"Unbelievable." Kai just had to admit that. But finally he got to see it. '_I've heard about the power of his Driger, and once I've witnessed his power, Ray will have lost edge against me. Soon, they won't know what hit them when they fall prey to the power of my Dranzer._'

The blades went back to battle again, and they only split when trying to get an edge over each other in the attacks. The Chief said something to Tyson, but it could not be heard through the noise of the crowd and the battle, but it probably had something to do with the regulations done when the two fixed Tyson's blade. Suddenly Dragoon stopped attacking, and rather began to circle the stadium.

Dragoon's bit lit up, and soon the dragon was in the air. With those two bit beast let loose, who would win? They went head to head in what would be the final attack of this battle. The crowd and the contestants lost view of the blades as they were wrapped within a hurricane, until such a time when once was thrown out of the dish. But the winner could not be determined until they could see which blade was left spinning. And soon after, Tyson was declared the winner of round two.

What really surprised Kai, not that he showed it, was that Ray forfeit the third battle, claiming that he knew Tyson would win. So, it would once again be Kai against Tyson. He wondered if Tyson would be decent competition this time.

-

Kai stared as his opponent was being smothered by his relatives, whom were all celebrating the brat's apparent birthday. It seemed like Tyson had been way too focused on the bey blading tournament to remember his own birthday. Now, that was impressive. Not even Kai himself had managed that. But then again, he usually kept track of dates as a principle of the matter.

He watched as Tyson walked up to him, offering him some cake. He declined, of course, before commenting sarcastic about enjoying the party. After that, Kai walked out of the room, wanting some time to think before getting on with his next battle. If he was so concentrated about the battle, then it might get quite interesting.

-

The dish was the usual classic bowl, but for a change they had done something to the area around the dish. It was surrounded by a steel cage. This, apparently, was supposed to limit their ability to move, while probably trying to make then claustrophobic.

Needless to say, it didn't work on Kai. The announcer was chatting about the stats and guessing who would win, but Kai hardly paid attention to him. He knew that this would be an interesting battle, and he would focus on winning it.

"Kai, it looks like we're about to get started, so good luck." Tyson said, flashing his Dragoon blade.

"Hehe, good luck, eh? You should keep it, because you're definitely going to need it, birthday boy."

"We'll see!"

"I didn't realize that luck was involved, and here I wasted all my time on skill and training." He said snidely.

Trash talking was always fun, as it riled up his opponents, and Tyson was no better than anyone else. The blades were launched, and the battle begun. The blades circled the dish once, before going head to head. Sparks erupted from the intensity of the battle.

Tyson went on the offensive, and let loose a dragon storm that shocked the audience. Surprisingly enough, Kai hadn't expected him to attack that fast, and due to that, he _lost_, and was blown back against the steel cage surrounding them.

"Come on Kai, I know you're so much better than that. I don't know why you're not trying, but feel free to keep it up if you like." Tyson was grinning; Kai could hear it in his tone of voice.

"You're right; I guess I was going easy on you. Don't worry; I'm not going to make the same mistake twice." He stood up again, and slowly smirked.

"Well, well, you finally cracked a smile." Tyson was so playing around, annoying Kai. He wanted a real battle, it seemed like.

"Did I? Well, I guess that was just another mistake, that I won't make again." This time it was kids' gloves off, Kai wanted to win. He loosened his gauntlets, letting them fall to the ground. Tension was building with every move.

"Fine then! I was just trying to be nice, but if it bothers you that much then I don't know what your problem is!"

"You treat this like a game, Tyson, but I choose to compete only for family honour, not fun." Damn, he was actually sounding sincere, but then again it was the truth.

"And you don't see anything wrong with that?!" Apparently that concept was too much for Tyson to understand. But then again, he hadn't had the like that Kai had had. Wonder what Tyson would do to make him realise his point of view of the game.

And soon, the second round was about to being. They let loose the blades, and Tyson called up his bit beast to fight at once, not wanting Kai to get a chance to fight back. But Kai was not one to be underestimated, and he called forth Dranzer, fighting for his win. Kai commanded Dranzer to use the Fire Arrow attack, leaving Tyson to fly out of the ring. '_There, I tried harder. Happy now, birthday boy? And won't __**my**__ grandfather be proud.'_ Kai though, while he being smug about his victory, as it was one of his fastest as of yet.

"Nice shot, feels like my teeth are still rattling. I guess that puts us on even ground, doesn't it, Kai?" He chuckled slightly, feeling the tension building up.

"You don't give up easy, that's for sure."

"I didn't make it this far for nothing, and even if I don't win, I'll know that I gave it my best shot." Tyson said, sounding quite passionate about it.

'_If I win this battle, it's going to be my victory, not my grandfather's_' Kai though while he was waiting for the third round to begin. He knew he wanted to have some recognition for himself, because he was damn well worth it.

He prepared for the next launch, settling Dranzer ready, and then it was on. Dranzer and Dragoon went head to head, trying to find each other's weaknesses. It was a battle of the elements as fire and air collided, trying to beat the other out of the dish. After a really strong collision, the stadium went white for a shock of the sudden lightness. When Kai was able to see again, Dranzer and Dragoon was gone! They had somehow disappeared.

"Wow..." Tyson said, seemingly in awe of the match.

"No way." Kai couldn't believe that his trusty Dranzer would just disappear suddenly, it wasn't possible.

But he had to admit, the look on Tyson's face was unbelievable when he noticed that their blades where gone.

"What's going on?" But he wasn't much better, because he wanted answers, and he wanted them _now_.

"I have no idea..." Tyson said, when there suddenly was a flash of blue and red light from the air; the blades misplacement had been discovered.

"Go Dragoon!"

"Go Dranzer!"

The blades continued their battle even as they fell from the air, never wanting to give up their battle, both feeling their master's needs to win.

"Get him!"

"Don't let up!"

"Hang on!"

"You can do it!"

But in the end, it ended up with being luck, depending on where the blades landed. Dragoon landed first, on the edge of the dish, and spinning down to the middle of the stadium. But the real shock came with Dranzer; he also landed on the edge, but by mere unluckiness, Dranzer spun out of the dish, leaving Tyson the winner.

He couldn't believe it. He actually lost. Sure, it wasn't fair, just a small fluke of faith, but he lost. His title was lost. He knelt as he stared at his blade, trying to figure out why Dranzer let him lose the match, as he knew what was at stakes.

"Hey, Kai."

He looked up, and saw Tyson standing in front of him. He hardly noticed the steel cage lowering around them as he stood up again, this time looking down on Tyson.

"I gave it my best." He said, almost ashamed. He knew he should have won the battle, it was his by rights to win.

"I know."

Suddenly they both heard chuckling, and saw Mr. Dickenson, chairman of the BBA, coming up to them, closely followed by Ray.

"Oh, hello Mr. Dickenson, Ray," Tyson said, while Kai indulged no greeting to him.

"You boys sure know how to play the crowds." He said, smiling. "On behalf of the BBA, I just wanted to congratulate you both for putting on one heck of a show."

"Hn. Since I'm not the champion anymore, you'll have no further use of my skill, Mister Dickenson." Yes, he knew he sounded disappointed, but Kai had really expected to win that battle, and it left him eager for more.

"Hahaha." Mr. Dickenson laughed, "I was thinking more along the lines of making you a team captain."

"A what?" Kai suddenly turned his attention back to the chairman, since this sounded interesting.

"Do you really mean it?" Tyson asked, sounding really gullible, when suddenly the lights of the stadium turned off, and two light beams were directed at Tyson and Kai.

"_Let's give it up for the two top bey bladers in the country; new champion Tyson and his worthy opponent Kai._" An applause sounded though the stadium, leaving both a bit stunned, as the two bladers really hadn't expected that, since they only though about the game and the battles.

"_Now it's time to announce the official team that will represent us at the World Championships; semi-finalist Max and Ray. Join me in wishing them good luck along with the finalist Kai and Tyson in the World Bey Blading Championships._"

"You should have seen your faces." Mr. Dickenson smiled, "I had them make the announcement after the match because I didn't want to spoil the surprise and risk distraction you from the battle."

"Are you serious?" Tyson asked, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he just _earned_ the title as the best blader in Japan moments ago.

"Yep, totally." Ray replied, "and I'm really so proud to be a part of the team. Just think; our beyblade team should be able to go the distance, and maybe even becoming the champions of the world."

"Awesome!" Tyson declared, jumping with delight. "We need a cool team name, something like Bladebreakers."

"You know, that actually has a nice ring to it." Ray replied. The small talk was interrupted by Max running up to them, followed by the Chief.

"Hey Tyson!"

"Max! Kenny!"

"I can't believe it, we all get to travel on the world bey blade circuit, together! How cool is that?" Max exclaimed, while the three began discussing how the future battles would be, but as he didn't really care, Kai tuned them out very soon.

"Kai, aren't you going to greet the team?" Dickenson asked, smiling happily for some reason.

"I think I prefer to work alone." Kai said, sounding rather dismissible as usual.

"Right, and I prefer to be working on my sun tan at the beach, but we all got other responsibilities."

"Like?"

"Like, accepting your talent as a work class beyblader, instead of always trying to run away from it. And like using your gift to train the other competitors who look to you as a leader instead of always shutting everybody out."

"Yeah, okay, I accept." Kai said, but didn't really sound interested, and he wasn't either.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear that." Mr Dickenson said.

"Yes, right on! Put her there, Kai!" Tyson said, jumping around all hyper and happy from the battle.

"I agreed to lead the team, but that doesn't mean we're going to be the best of chums now. I'm here for one reason, and that is to coach this team to victory at the World Championships. Happy birthday, Tyson, enjoy your party, because we're starting training first thing tomorrow morning."

Walking away from the dish and his new team, Kai thought quietly to himself. '_Team leader, huh. Wonder what that'll bring._'

-

Kai had returned to the Blade Sharks headquarters, looking over how things were, knowing that he'd leave the gang now that he was going to be on the world beyblade circuit. While he was there, his grandfather came to have a small talk – more like ordering him around actually – about what he should do on his new team, and with his future.

"We've been through this a thousand times, Kai. Yes, you must continue bey blading. Enough excuses, it's time to grow up."

"Hn."

"All you have to do is to get me the bit power of the bey blades. Now, grandson, what do you say?"

"Fine." He said, sounding rather sarcastic.

"This isn't a game. Failure is not an option. I want that bit power, do you understand, grandson? " Voltaire said, and then he walked away from him, probably heading for the car that was no doubt waiting for him to take him back to the mansion.

"Yeah, grandfather, I do."

-

A few days later, everything was ready for takeoff, and heading to Hong Kong, and China, where the Asian tournament would take place. Everything but Tyson, that is. Kenny, whom had somehow been adopted into the team, was discussing with Max about a possible reason why Tyson was late, mentioning something about Tyson probably forgetting his toothbrush.

Just a minute before the train was taking off; he came running into the train, seemingly without breath, but happy to be aboard it in time.

"Phew, too close." Tyson said, and then he looked for a place to sit.

"Hey, made it with seconds to spare!" Max said, sounding as happy as ever. Tyson laughed at him, but he knew it was true.

"Haha, I bet you though I was going to be late." He said as he walked up to the empty seat beside Max.

"Didn't even cross our minds", Kenny said.

"Laugh it up, joke boy; just don't be late for our match." Kai said, "none of your opponents will wait for you."

"Oh, whatever. I can sleep in, read a comic and still have time left to beat anyone." Tyson said, happy to be aboard the plane.

"Hn. Get serious; you're still not ready for the big time yet." Kai replied.

"Yeah, huh? We'll see about that. The championship is in the bag."

"Speaking of bags, you should store yours in the overhead compartment." Kenny injected, seemingly seeing the argument that was brewing.

"Thanks, now where is my warm face cloth?" Tyson asked, sitting down. "Hey, wait! Why aren't we in first class?"

"Now, Tyson, everything is taken care of on this trip. And if anything goes wrong, Kenny here will patch it up." Mr. Dickenson said.

"Too cool; the one and only Chief is in charge."

"Well, I just want you guys to have the best tools, you know, to go up against beybladers from around the world. Here check this out..." Kenny said, giving a new launcher to Tyson, who took it with pleasure.

Kai tuned out on conversation taking place, preferring to think about the possible happenings that would occur in this tournament. Would he meet some really good bladers? Would his so-called team win, or would they lose? He supposed he wouldn't know until they arrived in China and the Asian tournament begun.

-

Arriving in China, they learned that the flight they were supposed to be taking had been delayed because of bad weather, leaving them with a day to spend in Hong Kong. Tyson, Max and Kenny didn't seem to care about that when Mr. Dickenson, who told them the news, mentioned food, while being incredibly happy and laughing all the time. '_I can't take much more of this._'

Arriving at the hotel room that had been rented for them, Tyson became his immature self again.

"Wow, this is the coolest!" Tyson exclaimed happily.

"Everyone looks like ants from up here." Max commented.

"Duh, that's because they are ants, Max. That's the balcony floor you're looking at." Kenny replied, showing a small bit of common knowledge that the others should have known.

"Wow, that bed is perfect for a pillow fort." Tyson said, not noticing that Kai had followed him to the bedroom, and grabbed him in the red jacket he was wearing.

"Will you learn to grow up? This isn't playtime, remember." Kai said a bit harshly, not that the others took any notice of it.

"Why don't you try smiling, Kai, or are you just afraid your face will crack?" Tyson said, then ran to the king-size bed and began playing.

"What?"

"Yeah, I hereby name this bed Fort Naptime."

"You're such a wet blanket, loosen up a little and have some fun. Tyson's got the right idea." Max said to Kai, before joining Tyson on the bed.

"Why did I ever come here? I'm no babysitter." Kai said irritated.

"Wah, wha, could you get us some soda and chocolate bars and then could you read us a story, please?" Tyson asked, imitating a baby quite well while he did so.

"Bunch of wise guys." Kai said, and walked away from the door way. '_Just wait..._'

He went away for a bit, seeking solace before the evenings' dinner plans. However, he didn't have much time alone, as merely two hours later their dinner was planned.

Mr. Dickenson had booked a table for them at a Chinese restaurant, but no one on the team, apart from Kai himself, noticed that Ray was not with them, not had he been for the entire trip. But he hadn't placed too much thought on it; which was why he was a bit surprised when their waiter for the evening turned out to be none other than the "missing" bladebreaker member.

However, as opposed to certain others, like Tyson and Max, he actually knew how to not show surprise when that fact was revealed. Though, he had to admit that the look on Tyson's face when he saw who was serving him was rather hilarious. Talking about being surprised... But then again the others weren't much better.

Kai actually smirked when Tyson asked Ray if he had given up beyblading for washing dishes. As if, Ray was a way too good blader to just give up without a good reason. Hearing Ray telling Tyson that he worked to earn money explained a lot, though. After all, don't all people work to earn money so they can spend them later on? Not to mention the possibility to train anonymously with unknown bladers.

"He's still on the team, right?" Tyson asked Mr. Dickenson.

"Yes, and when he's not brewing tea, he's still one mean beyblader. With his skill, he's an integer member of the group." The director replied.

"Yeah." Tyson said, sounding rather happy. He was probably remembering his own battle against the cat-like blader. Ray found a chair, and joined them at the table after a brief trip to the kitchens where he removed his work uniform, and Mr. Dickenson began to explain the plan.

"Here's what's going on; the Asian tournament is gigantic and as a team we must use it as a tune up for the World Championships that are going to be held later this year, but remember we must win out here or we don't advance, understand? Now, let me explain the rules of the Asian qualifier; there will be four players on each team, but only three will compete in battle. And if you're wondering how we choose the three, that decision will be made prior to the event to pick the best person for each battle." He made an example with the rice balls that he had in front of him, making it a bit easier to understand. "The team with the most surviving beyblades, wins. That's the way we run this railroad."

"Hold on and let me get this straight," Kai intervened, "I can win all of my matchups, but we don't advance unless the rest of this brat pack wins?"

"Hum, yes, everything but the brat part. Nothing will defeat us if we stick together, kids, nothing. There is no I in team, remember that."

"Yeah, well, sorry, there's no Kai in team either. Hn." Kai said, then stood up, preparing to leave.

"Kai, come on. We're a team, don't leave." Mr. Dickenson objected.

"A team with these joker babies?"

"What?"

"I've had it up to here with your team." Kai said, and walked away.

"Kai."

"Come back here." Max tried to call to Kai, but he ignored the blond blader.

"Oh, let him go, kids, he's a loner, but he'll come around. He will begin to realize that in beyblading, as it is with rice balls, it's better to have many than to have just one." Mr. Dickenson said, while waving a rice ball in his hand, before he ate it.

"We don't need him. All he does is to complain. I say; see you." Tyson commented.

"You said it, Tyson."

"We can do it."

And that was all Kai heard before he left the restaurant all together.

-

'_Team work, please. I can win the whole tournament alone if I had to. If I wanted to, that is._' Kai though as he walked down the different streets of Hong Kong. He knew he was one of the best, if not the best, blader in the world. He was a natural when it came to bey blading, and when Dranzer came to him some years ago, he only improved more. What was rather strange though, was that he could hardly remember his childhood. He only remembered the last three years, and that was from living with his grandfather in the mansion in Japan. But he somehow knew he was raised at least partly in Russia, as he spoke Russian fluently, along with English and Japanese. But then again, it could have something to do with the fact that he was half Russian.

He walked through one of the many blading parks in Hong Kong, briefly wondering about if he should enter a battle. He decided against it almost at once. There were probably no one that could stand up to the power of his Dranzer, nor were they worth unleashing his bit beast on. He walked on, hoping to either find someone that was worthy to battle against, or find somewhere quiet where he could have some peace.

However, let it not be said that he did not take notice when he heard the sound of bey blades clashing together in a battle. Kai walked in the general direction of where he heard the sounds coming from, and who would he find in that fish-stinking alley but his own team battling some other bladers?

His team looked surprised to see him, but Kai wasn't concerned about that. He would rather know just who they were battling against. He watched as Tyson defeated the ninja clad blader, and let Dragoon keep spinning in the stadium that the wok presented. He readied Dranzer in his launcher just in case it would be needed, and not a second later a purple blade came flying though the air, and knocked Dragoon out of the wok, sending him flying directly against Ray. Kai launched Dranzer with great precision, and it slammed into Dragoon, sending Dragoon into Tyson's hand, while Dranzer returned to his owner. The action caused the bladers in the alley to stare in his direction in surprise. They certainly didn't expect to see him.

"Kai!" The Bladebreakers said almost as one, and then Tyson continued "you're always showing off."

"The only reason I'm here is because you guys need serious training." He replied, sounding like he didn't care, which was true. "I'll always be the last dumpling in the walk, boys."

"Hehehe." A voice sounded from above them, and they looked up to see a green haired boy sitting on the edge of the roof. "Whatda know, Brucie messes up again. What a big surprise."

"Aww, Kevin," the blader replied, "please, you can't kick me out of the White Tiger team, I only just got a nickname."

"White Tiger team?" Tyson enquired, but nobody replied. Ray was more interested in staring at the green haired boy in shock and surprise.

The boy jumped down, and said: "here's a cool nickname for you; how does Mr. Failure sounds? Sounds cool to me."

"That's so cruel." He began to walk away, "call me Mr. Failure? Well, you're Mr. Failure, yeah" and so he disappeared out of sight.

"I don't know guys, but I'm completely lost here." Tyson said.

The green haired guy rose from his crouching position, chuckling while he did so. Suddenly it seemed like Ray recognised him, if the somewhat angry reaction was anything to go by.

"Hey, Ray, what's going on here? Ray? Do you know who this guy is?" Apparently, he wasn't the only one, as Tyson began to ask questions.

"Well, well. Hello, Ray. I guess you haven't told your friends about me." Kevin said.

"Ray? We got to head back. Is this guy a friend of yours or something?" Tyson asked.

The blade in the wok spun faster, and went to Kevin's waiting hand.

"Oh, me and Ray here, we are tight, very tight."

"Ray?"

Kevin laughed, sounding a bit creepy.

"Oh he knows me, alright, don't you, _Raymond_?"

The name caused a reaction that was rather unexpected; Ray growled for a bit, rather like a cat when threatened. "So, I can see you made some new friends. You're their babysitter?" Kevin jumped back, like he somehow felt that was the smartest thing to do.

"Hey, back off!" Tyson said, never wanting to let anyone insult his friends.

"Oh, you must be their leader, seeing as you're so tough. Hey, would you guys chill out a little? I just wanted a bit of fun, that's all."

"Then what's the big idea, firing your bey blade at us like that, huh?" Max asked annoyed.

"I think he's spying on us, trying to figure out a way to beat Tyson's Dragoon, which I find to be rather offensive." Kenny said, voicing his opinion.

"Hey, out here there are no rules, and I can do what I like." Kevin said.

"Enough!" Ray stated. "Kevin, what's the big idea busting in here?"

"Hey, do you mind telling us who your little buddy is?" Tyson injected, starting to lose his patience.

Ray sighed, and then he said something about growing up with him.

"You still haven't said why you're here. Are you still with the White Tigers? And you were spying on us?" Ray half asked, half stated.

"The White Tigers?" Kenny asked.

"You've heard of us? Oh, then let's have a little battle. Are you up for it, Ray?" Kevin asked.

"I don't have time for this. Remember the last time we fought you didn't stand a chance against my Driger."

"Hehe, well, that was a long time ago. Besides, check out my new beyblade." Kevin said, braggingly.

"Oh, will you quit trying to act so tough? Your blade might be different, but you sure aren't." Ray replied.

"You're the one acting. Ever since you ditched the White Tigers, I've heard you haven't defeated anyone."

"I have heard enough!" Tyson objected.

"It's okay, Tyson, I've changed my mind. I'll take him on."

"For-get it. No. You let me take care of it." Why was Tyson always fighting other's battles for them? It was strange trait in a person. "It's payback time. I'll teach you a lesson for coming around and snooping."

"So you think you're better than Ray? Excuse me, but you must be dumber than you look. Heh, bring it on."

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you're never going to forget. Huh, tough guy. And the first thing I'm going to teach you is never melt of my friends."

"You show him good, Tyson." Max said, throwing in his support.

"He doesn't look so tough." Kenny commented.

"He's not." Ray stated.

"I'm ready anytime you are. My Galman is going to have you for breakfast."

"Talk is cheap, and I do my talking in the stadium." Tyson said and found his launcher and Dragoon blade.

"On my mark; three, two, one, LET IT RIP!" Max said, calling the match to begin.

"Let it riiip" Tyson echoed, while Kevin said that it was time he took him down a few notches.

The blades flew though the air, and both hit the stadium and begun circling it.

"C'mon Dizzy, what's the lowdown on this guy?" Kenny asked his laptop, which strangely enough had a bit beast trapped within it.

"Patience, I'm not a machine." Dizzy, as the bit beast was named, replied. She was rather sarcastic, but fun to have around with her many comments. Kai watched Kenny and Dizzy talking, wondering if Tyson would actually pull off the win of the battle.

"It's time to end this, Dragoon attack!" Tyson said, quickly getting impatient.

Kevin smirked. Galman dodged the attack, frustrating Tyson with his actions, and letting his blade wobble. Tyson was shocked. "Welcome to my neighbourhood, rookie." Kevin said.

"It's starting to wobble" Tyson exclaimed, having the need to state the obvious.

"I've never seen a bey blade do that." Said Max, and it showed that he was confused.

"According to Dizzy, his beyblade has the ability to wobble, without losing any of its rotation speed." Kenny commented. And true to words, the blade was wobbling while Dragoon was circling the wok. Kenny did some analysing, claiming that Galman was programmed to dodge Dragoons every move, and that it meant that soon he would launch the Crazy Monkey attack that his Galman was famous for. Max just wondered what that was, while Ray looked thoughtful, and mentioned that that was what his attacked was named, but he hadn't seen it in person.

"Well, there, are you ready to give up yet?" Kevin asked, "Or do I have to call out Galman?"

"This isn't over by a long shot, so put a lid on it." Tyson objected, making Kevin laugh.

"You sure talk pretty tough for someone's about to go down." "No way!"

Dragoon prepared to attack, but Galman began spinning back and forth, confusing Tyson.

"Hey look, Kevin's starting to make his move," said Max, and while he spoke, it began to appear more bey blades in the dish.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on out there, or do I have to get physical?" Dizzy half said, half threatened.

"Here's a one-way ticket to the junk yard. It's time for the Crazy Monkey attack!" The blade lit up, and the battle was on. Tyson seemed to be in way over his head. The illusion of five blades caused some reactions, most noticeable Max's "It's unbelievable." Kai wasn't too surprised, but then again, he wasn't some rookie who hadn't bladed that much around the world or bladed at all, for that matter.

The five Galman blades spun at the wok's flat surface, while Dragoon kept circling the top parts, and he was rather confused about how he should handle that.

Kenny mentioned something about it being an optical illusion, but did Tyson know how to fight one? It didn't seem like that, as he kept asking the Chief for advises.

"Here's a thought; you can see defeat, like a man." As Kevin said that, Galman attacked, and hit Dragoon multiple times in the side of his defence ring.

"Dragoon, attack now." Tyson said, trying a reckless attack that no doubt wouldn't work. And true enough, it didn't. Galman attack back, and sent Dragoon flying out of the wok.

Tyson stared down on his beyblade, surprised by the defeat.

"Game over." Kevin said, and let Galman spin in the circle of the wok again. Tyson took a step forth, and looked down on the spinning blade in surprise. "He's still going."

Dizzy commented his loss and lack of listening to advises, but claimed that he didn't care. Kai just stood with his arms crossed and overlooked the happenings in front of him. He knew Tyson hadn't stood a chance. Ray might, but it wasn't certain. However, what was, was that Tyson was too inexperienced, and needed training. '_It's good Tyson met him here, and not in the tournament.'_ He thought, a slight smirk marring his face. Kenny began to interrogate his bit beast, while Kevin called his blade to his palm and reloaded his launcher.

"Man, we got smoked, by a cruddy monkey. " He lifted his head to look at Kevin. "That was some battle, right?" He got a smirk in reply to that, "I didn't even break a sweat."

"Oh, real funny. But remember, now we know bit beast, what do you think of that?"

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots."

"And one other thing; I'm the one with the edge, 'cause you haven't seen my bit beast yet."

"You wanna... go again?"

"You boys are gluttons for punishment", Dizzy commented while the two prepared to launch again.

"On my mark, three, two, one, let it rip!" Max said, once again starting them.

"It's time to see if your monkey has anything left," Tyson said.

"I think you're forgetting whose ahead, dude," he replied. "Galman, let's do some damage!" He said as he fired his blade. The blades went into the same positions as before; Dragoon circling the wok and Galman spinning in the middle of it.

"Are you going to circle the stadium all day or are you going to fight?" Kevin asked.

"When I'm ready", Tyson smiled as he replied.

"Let us get this thing over with. Alright, Crazy Monkey, attack." You could practically hear the monkey escape from its bit, as it went on the offensive, and used the illusion that created in total five blades again.

"That's it!" Tyson yelled out, "Alright, Dragoon, it's time for the ultimate storm attack." Dragoon began to spin faster and faster around the dish, confusing Kevin who was unaware of what was going on. Suddenly a bluish light lit up from the stadium, and Dragoon rose from the blade.

"This is starting to get freaky."

"You ain't seen nothing yet. Dragoon, attack." A hurricane rose from the dish, while Tyson encouraged his bit beast, while Kevin was gaping as his blade was blown out of the dish.

"Impossible! This must be a dream."

While Max cheered on, and declared that round two went to Tyson, Kenny went on about Galman never been defeated before and Kai stood there indifferent. "You really did it, Tyson." Ray said.

"Hey, thanks."

"Excuse me, but I think you're forgetting that this battle is best two out of three, remember."

Tyson scoffed at him, but then he looked up at the sound of footsteps. The kid from before, Bruce or whatever his name was, was back, followed by a pink haired girl dressed in white and pink.

"Kevin, you know what you are doing is against our team's rules." She said.

"Mariah! I can explain! I was just having a bit of fun. Why did you tell her, Brucie?"

"Don't get mad at him for your stupidity. You clearly broke our rules." Mariah told him.

"This isn't your business!"

"Wrong answer, Kevin," a deep voice replied. "Try again."

"Gary? Hang on, I came here to battle Ray, and there is nothing wrong with that." Kevin said.

"Excuse me, but there is no one here by the name of Ray." Mariah objected.

Kevin saw he was in a bit of a stalemate, not wanting to reply to their questions. He looked up briefly, before jumping up on the closest roof, and then continued to jump further down the alley to escape them. Mariah tried calling him back, but he didn't listen. Nor did he listen to Tyson's comment about them not being finished with their battle, wondering if he was chickening out.

Kai watched as Tyson turned his attention back to the bladers that had arrived, asking them who they were.

"Sure, right after we find out who you guys are." The pink haired girl said, placing her hands on her hips.

"So you want to play games?" Tyson asked.

"Maybe."

"Man, she's driving me completely bonkers." Tyson said, and then Ray walked forth.

"Mariah," he said which caused Max and Tyson to look at him in surprise. "What are you doing, following me? I thought you didn't want to see me anymore."

"We're going to the tournament. Is that a problem? You're not the only bey blader around, traitor." She said, sounding like an offended cat.

"Oh, great, why did the White Tigers decide to enter? Tell me, huh." Ray inquired.

"Okay, because we're going to win the whole thing, even without you. And when they hand that trophy to the White Tigers, don't come crawling back to us, Ray." Mariah said harshly.

"What do you mean?" Ray asked, sounding confused.

"They want you back, Ray." Tyson said, sounding sure of himself. "That's what. They want to split us up." There was a brief silence, and then he continued. "He's not going."

"Fine, let's let him decide. Well, come on." She said in a bossy tone of voice.

"Ehm.." Ray didn't seem sure, while in the background Max and Tyson were joking around as if nothing was wrong.

"Will you please make up your mind, _today_?"

"Ehm..."

"Is that Ray's voice I hear?" A voice asked from the alley way that Mariah and Gary came out of. Footsteps were soon heard, and a boy came out. He had long dark hair, white wrapping around his arms and wore a kind of Chinese clothing.

"Hey there, Lee." Mariah said, looking at the new blader.

"So, Ray, long time; no see." He said.

"Yeah..."

"I didn't come here to cause trouble, alright?" Lee told them.

"Sure." Ray replied doubtingly.

"So, why don't you introduce your friends? They seem to be nice enough, that is, for a bunch of amateurs."

Ray reeled back at that comment. "Huh? What was that?"

"They don't look like bladers we should even bother with, Lee." Mariah said.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Lee replied. He turned and his friends began to follow him, but Ray called after them. "Hey, wait!"

"Alright, you've come to your senses." Lee said.

"Excuse me," Kai said, and presented his beyblade that was ready to be launched, "but, are you supposed to be their leader? Let's see what you've got."

Lee looked back at them. "You want a go?"

Kai lowered his blade and replied. "Up until now all you've done is talk tough. Can you back it up in the stadium?"

"I don't think so."

"No?"

"You know, I would, but the White Tigers has a code to follow." Lee said.

"You're backing down?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, right" was the sarcastic reply to that.

"Hey!" Kai called out.

"What about me?" Mariah asked.

"Sorry, kid, but you're not the one I have a problem with." Kai said calmly.

Mariah pulled forth her blade, preparing to launch it, no caring what Kai had said. "Yah!" she said as it let rip, and Galux headed for the wok acting as a stadium.

"Hey, I'm not interested." Kai stated, but them he was startled as he saw what the blade caused. The blade attacked the dish, ripping it to pieces faster than what was comprehendible, and then Galux returned to her owner.

"Is it because you're scared of me?" Mariah asked, "Maybe you're scared because I'm a girl."

"No." He said rather harshly, and was about to continue when Tyson interrupted him.

"Wow, Kai, have a look." He said as the pieces of the stadium fell to the ground.

"I've never seen anything like that in my stats before." Kenny told them.

"Unbelievable..." Max said.

"Yeah, you're not kidding." Tyson replied.

"Hn... lucky."

"You don't have to fight me. If fact, you look way too scared to fight any of us." Mariah said.

"Huh, me, scared? I don't think so." Kai replied.

"Why is it always so hard for a boy to admit they're chicken?"

"Mariah, I don't like to be kept waiting." Lee said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Come on."

"Okay," she called out in reply, and then she stared at Ray for a bit. He stared back.

"Catch you later, Ray, and remember; this isn't over yet." Mariah said before running after Lee, with Gary following her.

"Okay, Mariah, I'll be waiting for you." Ray said as he looked after them, along with the rest of his team. And that was how Kai and his team met the White Tigers for the first time.

-

When they were walking back to the hotel, Max, Kenny and Tyson were discussing what they should be eating when Tyson suddenly asked what surely had been on his mind for a bit.

"Hey, Ray? Why did Mariah call you a traitor back there?" He asked curiously.

"Because I am." Ray replied darkly, causing Max and Tyson to stop and look at him.

"You're not serious, are you?" Tyson enquired.

"Why don't you just leave him alone? It's none of our business" '_Although I would like to know it'_ he thought "and frankly, we've got enough to worry about." Kai said, understanding the situation that Ray suddenly found himself in; a confrontation with his past while people that wasn't aware of what might be hidden in it, wanting to know all about it.

"Hey Kai, come back here!" Tyson yelled after him. "There goes Mr. Sensitive."

"So, what's bugging him? Do you think it could possibly be that girl back there embarrassed him?" Kenny asked them.

"Could be, but then again, maybe he's just got the pre-tournament jitters." Max said.

"Hmm... WHO'S UP FOR SOME PIZZA?" Tyson yelled out of the blue, scaring the hell out of Max and Kenny, while making Ray laugh. Kai passed out of hearing range, as he kept walking while the others just kept lagging behind.

-

The next morning they arrived where the Asian tournament were going to be held; China Tower, as it was called. They arrived without much ado, as they were just one of the many teams that were going to compete. They weren't that known yet, even. But then again, so were most of the teams here.

As they walked through the campus to get an overview of how it was, they heard the announcers telling the competitors and the onlookers how the tournament would go on, and how the bey blading teams that won a round would raise a level each time they won, as they then had eliminated the team they had battled against. The teams that won from A-block and B-block would eventually meet in the finals at the top of the stadium.

They warned against the White Tiger team, claiming that they were dangerous, but also said that Kai's own team, the Blade Breakers, were not one to be underestimated either.

The Bladebreakers finally arrived at the rooster, seeing that they were up first in group A, which delighted Tyson; He never had much patience. Max just thought that was funny.

Then the White Tigers saw them, and began talking to them.

"So, what's up? Are you the tournament mascots?" Lee asked sarcastically.

"Lee..." Ray said.

"Very funny," Tyson replied, "but we plan to win."

"Yeah right," Lee said, "Dream on."

"You do realize that you are in group A, and the White Tigers are in group B..." Mariah began.

"Which means, that even if you fluke out a first round win, we'll be going head to head eventually?" Kevin said, ending Mariah's sentence for her.

"We don't just realize it; we're looking forward to it." Kenny replied.

"We'll see about that when the time come, won't we?" Mariah said.

"Oh, yeah, and Ray? We don't go easy on traitors." Lee told them.

"Well, we don't go easy on anyone." Ray replied.

"You totally look like the weakest link," Kevin told Tyson while being in his face.

"Why you little..."

"Weakest link, weakest link..."

"Well, you look like the missing link!" Tyson called out after him as the White Tigers left.

-

The Bladebreakers left for the stadium that they were going to battle it. When they came there, they sat down in the resting area that were designed for them, while their opponents sat on the other side of the dish, waiting for DJ Jazzman to call the battle to begin.

Ray declared that he would begin, and Tyson, being the fool he was, just had to make a stupid comment.

"Show them we're even tougher than the White Tigers, Ray!"

"Don't even go there!" Ray snapped angrily to him.

"Huh? What? But I just meant that..."

"Tyson. I don't think Ray likes talking about his old team mates," Kenny told him.

"Hey, don't worry about it, guys, after all, we are on the same team here, remember?" Max reminded them.

"Well then, it's time someone of us started acting more like it, instead of being all talk, you know." Tyson argued.

"That wasn't directed at me, was it?" Kenny asked, sounding rather unsure of himself.

"He means me, and I'll think about it. In the meanwhile, I got a battle to win."

"Hm," Tyson snorted, looking rather annoyed.

'_Does the White Tiger team still have its claws in you, Ray?'_ Kai thought, showing no indication that he has seen the argument between his teammates.

Ray walked up to the stadium, and the dish was revealed to be a model version of the nature outside the China Tower, with all its jagged rocks there. Ray's opponent was a guy called Andre of the Tall Boys. The battle seemed to go in favour of Ray to begin with, but when he attacked he was thrown back, and almost eliminated. He went spinning back into action, but it woke Ray up enough to mind that his opponent actually could battle.

"That was amazing," Kenny said. "Let's check with Dizzy."

"Got anything?" Tyson asked.

"I say Ray is in for a major big Yak attack." Dizzy told them. "Andre's beyblade has the power and the form of a Yak. It's very strong." She continued.

"I got some more bad news," Kenny said, "I'm afraid that according to these power charts, the Yak attack is the definite strength advantage over Ray's Driger."

"So what now?" Tyson asked.

"That's a no-brainer. We all chip in and buy Ray a bus ticket home." Kai said, as if it was of no concern.

"Kai!"

"If Ray doesn't win, he doesn't deserve to be on the team." Kai stated, angering Tyson.

"Ray, hang in there, buddy!" Max called out. "You got him, Ray!"

The battle raged on, with Andre in the lead, tailing on Ray's Driger to find a way to eliminate him, when suddenly Driger spun far away from Andre's blade, angering his opponent, and causing the other blade to spin while Driger spun out of sight.

"Driger, tiger claw, attack!" Ray suddenly called out, and Driger slammed the other blade out of commission.

Max, Tyson and Kenny cheered when Ray won, and the second match was set to begin. Max took that one, and his opponent was some guy called Waylan. Draciel ripped off, and the battle begun. Suddenly the heat began to rise without any apparent reason. The heat affected Max, who always preferred to have it at a normal temperature when he was blading, and it exhausted him. Waylan kept talking to Max about how the heat affected him and the blade, seemingly sure that the victory would be his. What he didn't think about, was that Max had his teammates behind him, and they would always try to find a way to make sure that he won.

Max fell to his knees, sweat dripping from him, and he tried to call forth Draciel, but he didn't come out. Suddenly, the heat began to diminish, and Kenny called out that now was the time to attack. Draciel came forth with a vengeance and Waylan stood no chance against the mighty purple turtle. He tried to attack, but Draciel slammed him out of the stadium. And so the win went to the Bladebreakers.

"Max, that was pretty awesome!" Tyson exclaimed happily.

"Actually, it was pretty sloppy." Kai said.

"Kai..." Ray said, looking a bit surprised at his captain. "Give the poor guy a break?"

Max walked down to them, "Hey, it's okay, really, you're the team captain, Kai, so if you think I need to work harder, then I will. Okay?" Max said.

"Hn."

"It looks like you're up next, Tyson. Are you all set to go?"

"Yeah, totally. I can't wait to get in there and show him what I've got. These guys may think they're hot stuff and everything, but I'm no slouch, my own bad self, you know." Tyson said, smiling slightly.

Tyson's opponent was the Tall Boys team leader, Tommy, who seemed to be out for revenge. He was using a leg launcher, something that surprised Tyson. He expected the usual kind of launcher, but then again, none of Tommy's team mates had used one either. Tyson commented upon it, but then again it might not be smart to insult an opponent that you're going to battle.

Tommy began doing martial arts exercises, and Tyson stared. He hadn't seen that before either. A few seconds later, and the battle was on. Tommy's technique was unlike any Tyson had ever seen before, and he tried to blade in his usual manner, only to discover that it didn't work against his opponent, as he kept being pushed back again and again and again. Tyson called forth Dragoon, hoping that that would even the odds a bit, and he didn't pause to forth a massive hurricane.

The storm went over the river in the dish, causing a typhoon in its place, but he didn't have that much control over this new weapon of his. To add to his stress, suddenly Tommy attacked, and he kept jumping up and down on Dragoon.

"Unbelievable," Max said, "he's getting pulverized!"

"I suspect there is more to Tommy's beyblade than meets the eye. Notice the way it re-bounce so quickly, Max? I say it's probably spring-loaded." The chief replied.

"Hey, Kai? Uhm, maybe Tyson wasn't ready for such a big challenge?" Ray asked hesitatingly.

Kai laughed, "I could have told you that a long time ago, but, nobody asked me." He smirked.

Tyson seemed to be trying to figure out a way to keep his blade spinning, while leaving him with the possibility to win the battle. Suddenly he was sent out over the same cliff that almost defeated Ray earlier in his battle, and sent plunging down to the waters. But it didn't end there, as Tommy sent his blade over the cliff to make sure that Dragoon stopped spinning.

However, it seemed like Tyson was hoping for that, as he grinned when he did so, because he called forth a hurricane while still falling to the waters. This caused a major typhoon that slammed Tommy's blade out of the stadium. Tyson yelled with delight at the win, as it caused the Bladebreakers to advance in the tournament.

They headed over to the B block, and arrived to see the last of Mariah's battle. Her bit beast, Galux, was sent out of her blade, and slammed into the other blade, and slicing it down the middle which giving White Tigers their third win.

"She's one wicked bey blader, and I get the feeling that we'll be seeing a lot of her," Tyson said, sounding excited at the possible battle. "Most bladers would dread facing such a tough opponent, but I can't wait!"

-

Kai woke up suddenly, hearing a yell from Kenny about them being robbed by the White Tigers. The three blader that were just awaken got dressed and ran after Kenny to one of the many blading dishes at the place they were sleeping and living for Asian tournament. They found Ray and Kevin there, in what seemed to be a just begun battle, and heard them talking.

"Well, you just watch me, because I'll teach you another trick!" Ray said, and Driger set out to attack Galman.

"Ray, here I am, come and get me."

"You better watch what you wish for," Ray said, then shut up as Galman's bit lit up.

"Oh no, he's powering up!" Tyson said, a bit out of breath from the running.

Galman came forth like a big monkey. Ray looked unimpressed, probably used to it from the days in the White Tiger village.

"Driger, come out and destroy him now!" The bit piece lit up green, and the great tiger came out, ready for battle.

"Amazing..." Kevin said, "Ray, wait, let's stop this right now, and call it a draw, okay?"

"It's too late now! I don't have any choice but to finish you off, so stop your begging."

"But, Ray, we used to be friends," Kevin said with a voice marred with uncertainness.

"That's all just history now. Driger, attack!" Ray stated.

"I guess that's it, all I can do now is just to watch, while you totally destroy my life." Kevin said pitifully.

"Huh?" Ray almost whispered.

"For the last time, Ray, I beg you; please don't do this to me!" Kevin called out.

"It's too late!" Ray replied, but there was a bit of doubt in his voice. Suddenly Driger's bit stopped glowing. "And now what?" He said hesitatingly. "Huh? My bey blade's stopping?!"

Kevin chuckled, "I can't believe you're so dumb. I mean, you actually bought that bit about me sucking up to you! I When you left us, you lost your mind, Ray."

"Why won't the Tiger claw attack work? What in the world is going on?"

The tiger turned to look at his master, and suddenly faded from view.

"No, don't!" Ray called out, but it helped nothing. Driger left the blade, while his owner stared at it.

"So Ray, I guess you forgot if you lose control of your bit beast for good if you only fight half-heartedly." Kevin said, smirking. "I guess that makes me the winner, doesn't it?"

"I'm so stupid. How could I forget that?" Ray said shocked.

"You're a disgrace, and I'm glad you left the White Tigers. Ray, the only thing you had going for you was your Driger bit beast, and now that's gone."

"But I didn't abandon the White Tiger team! Can't you understand that?"

"It's time to finish you off! Crazy Monkey, attack! Maybe now you will show me the respect that I deserve!" Kevin said, sending his blade to knock Ray's blade out of the stadium. Suddenly he was interrupted by another blade, which sent Galman out of the dish. "Alright, who's the wise guy?"

"Hey, just back off, and don't try anything." Tyson said, "hey, Ray, happy to see us, bud?"

"Ray's your buddy?" Kevin chuckled, "I hate to break it to you, but someday he will betray you too."

"You're wrong. That would never happen in a million years."

"There was a time I thought the same thing. But that all changed when he deserted the White Tigers to join your little team."

"I don't care what you think of Ray, you stole my data and I want it back!" Kenny exclaimed. "Do you understand?"

"Sure I do. But you're going to have to win it back."

"Huh, you know, I'm going to enjoy this." Tyson said as Dragoon left the dish to fly to his hand. "Whenever you're ready!"

"Ready, set, go! Crazy Monkey attack!" He called out the bit beast at once, and then went on the attack, trying to find a weakness in Dragoon. "So what's wrong? I guess you're not as tough as you thought you were." Kevin said.

"This battle is a long way from being over, and I don't expect to lose it to you, so you might want to keep your yap shut until it's finished." Tyson said. Kevin gasped. "This battle is about defending my friends, both Ray and the Chief. Of course, what would you know about friends? After all, you don't have any. Dragoon, attack now!" Tyson spoke up, then Dragoon lit up, and the blue dragon came out to battle, somehow managing to dwarf Galman. "Storm attack!" The blade obeyed, and a hurricane came out of nowhere, and it sent Galman flying though the air.

"Ata boy, Tyson, you show him good!" Kenny called out.

Kevin moaned in defeat, then picked up his blade.

"Hey, it's time to give back our disk, goner." Tyson said.

"My beyblade..."

"So, what about our little bet? You said you would give us the disk, now cough it up." Tyson said demandingly.

"Here, I always keep my word." Kevin said, and then threw it at Tyson, who caught it. "Now, get out of my sight and take your traitor friend with you." Kevin told them, rather ironically seeing as he was the one leaving. "And Ray? Without your bit beast Driger, you're nothing!" He said before running out of there.

Kai 'hn'ed' before walking up to Ray. "You had the chance to beat him, yet you let him win. What kind of a blader are you? I didn't expect that from you, Ray."

"I... I..."

"You let the power of your Driger slip right through your fingers, and now you're left with nothing, Ray. You know, I always thought you were smarter than that, but I guess I was wrong." Kai said softly, no caring that he was getting dripping wet from walking into the rain that had been pouring all evening.

"I don't know how I could have been so careless."

"Me too, Ray, me too." He said, and then stayed silent for a bit. "Well, there is nothing we can do now, and no matter how much we want to, we can't change the past." He said, and then he walked away from him, heading for bed to get some more sleep.

-

Kai walked away from where he had been training for a few hours when he heard a door slam shut. He had been up since the break of dawn, and had seen that Ray had left behind a letter before his little disappearing act, and figured it held some sort of explanation. But not that he cared. He knew Ray would be back, or either gone from the team. Either way, the best way to spend the time before the tournament was to train to get better.

As he passed the corner, he saw Max, Tyson and the Chief walking down from the room where he knew Mr. Dickenson to be. Seems like his guess was the correct one, as they were talking together, and the subject was indeed Ray.

"Tyson."

"Kai!" Tyson startled, obviously not having heard him.

"Why are you three wasting your time out here? You should be practicing." He said.

"You're not serious, are you? If you haven't already noticed, we're one team member short."

"I wouldn't worry about that."

"Huh?"

"When Ray's good and ready, he will come back again. I know him, and he is the type of guy that is determined to get his bit beast back. His Driger means everything to him, and if anyone could find a way to get it back, he will."

"You mean he can get his bit beast back?" Max asked.

"I'm sure of it. And when he does, Ray will be stronger than he was before. Without Ray and his bit beast, there is no way we can win this tournament." Kai replied, and walked away from them, leaving them to their own devices.

Though he had to admit he wasn't surprised to see Ray with them when Max ad Tyson came back from wherever they had been.

-

The Bladebreakers sat on the bench while the other team, some wool loving guys, battled against the White Tigers, wondering if they would learn anything about Ray's former team mates, whom they were sure to meet somewhere in a future match-off. Gary was the first to battle, and a few minutes into the battle, he called forth Galzzy, and the bear bit beast attack fiercely.

"Yikes, it's huge!" Tyson exclaimed surprised.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Kai said. He turned his head to look at Ray, "is it as powerful as it looks, Ray?"

"Uh, let's just say I'm glad I'm not in Bobby's shoes." He replied. Kai looked slightly thoughtful at that. Maybe the White Tigers would be such a bad opponent after all.

Mariah tried to do some peep talk, but all she managed was to sidetrack Gary's mind, as she mentioned the one thing he loved the most; food. That caused him to lose concentration on the match, and he lost it as Bobby attacked when he saw his possibility. When he realized what he had done, it was already too late for Gary.

Mariah was up next, and she did a bit of trash talking before starting the battle, and sending Galux to end it after mere seconds with her Scratch attack. Doug's blade was ripped to pieces by it, giving White Tigers the win.

"Wow, that was incredible!" Tyson said impressed, while Kai snorted in reply. "That battle was over before it even started. Doug didn't stand a chance."

The White Tigers sent their team leader, Lee, to the dish for the final battle, and his opponent was fittingly enough the other team's leader, Bruno.

"It is time to show you how badly you misjudged my powers. Ray, you might want to pay close attention to this one," Lee called out. "You're proving yourself of the White Tiger, and now I'll show you once and for all that the power of the White Tiger should be mine. Watch how a true master controls the battle. You might recognise this; Galeon, TIGER CLAW!"

Ray rose and stepped forth to see Galeon attacking with a ferocity that would have made Driger proud. Bruno tried to fight back, but he didn't stand a chance. The White Tigers won that round as well, letting them advance in the tournament.

Ray walked over to where the pieces of the ripped apart blade fell, seemingly studying them, when Max asked him a good question, namely where Lee learned the Tiger Claw.

"Care to explain yourself, Lee?" Ray asked.

"Sure, it's no big secret. The white tiger belongs to me." Lee said.

"But that's Ray's bit beast, not yours. " Tyson objected.

"At least it was, before it disappeared." The chief corrected.

"Yeah, how dare you claim it as your own?" Max said heatedly.

"Oh, really, guys? So what do you think, Raymond? Maybe it's about time you told them the truth."

"The truth is that Lee and I go back a long way. We grew up together in a small mountain village. It was no TV or video games or anything like that, so we devoted a lot of our spare time to bey blading."

"We were best friends, and hardly ever apart, whether we were perfecting our beyblade skills or doing chores in town with the rest of our White Tiger team friends. It was the perfect friendship, perfect that is, while it lasted. The symbol of the White Tiger that had been passed down from generation to generation and it was Ray, not I, who was selected by my grandfather to bear the responsibility. I was disappointed, but I knew that it was in good hands, and so I gave Ray my support. I figured, if our friendship could survive that, it could survive anything. But I was wrong." Lee said.

"It was at that time Ray betrayed us. It was there and then that I decided that I would one day find Ray and take control of the White Tiger's power, thereby restoring honour to our team. Of course, to do that, I needed to ensure that my skill and strength were equal to that of Ray's. So I practiced, day in and day out, until I was confident that I had perfected the technique that Ray and I had developed; the one known as the tiger claw attack. Now that we're up to speed, hand over the White Tiger bit beast, Ray!"

"Never! That was a nice tale you spun there, Lee, but it was a bit heavy on the melodramatics for my tastes."

"Every word of it was true."

"Maybe, but that was only shows one side of the story. Our town was so isolated from society that few beyond its walls even knew we existed. Everyone should know about the White Tiger."

"Oh, it that so? And what was wrong with leaving things just the way they've always been. It wasn't your decision to make. I'm here to claim the White Tiger, and you can't stop me." Lee said.

"Don't be so sure about that. You'll have to go through us first." Tyson objected, making Lee laugh. "Don't laugh, your White Tiger team might be tough to beat, but the Bladebreakers always stick together. And we're not about to let you take something from one of our teammates without a fight!"

"That's right, if you mess up with one of us, you get to deal the rest of us." Kenny back Tyson up, with Max agreeing.

"So there," Ray said, smiling slightly.

"Okay then, let me offer you this challenge; if you defeat us in the finals, then the White Tiger is yours. But if we win, the White Tiger is ours! So, what do you say? Is it a deal?"

"Okay, Lee, it's a deal."

And so Lee walked back to his own team bench, leaving the Bladebreakers to talk together. That is, until their match-off against the Charming Princes begun.

Tyson went up first, but ended up almost messing it up because of the blade the prince-member was using, as Dragoon's wind attack kept it stable on the floor, and not sending it flying as it was supposed to. Kenny figured it out, and guided Tyson to attack the blade, and then sending it flying through the air, giving the Bladebreakers the win. Next up was Max, and he aced his match, giving them the second win that they needed to advance.

Ray was up next, and he was determined to win it, for Driger if nothing else.

"Wherever you are, Driger, this is for you!" Ray called out, and the bit beast-less blade slammed into the stadium, beginning to tear through the model version of the Chinese wall. Suddenly there were stripes of green in the air, heading for his blade, entering it. It lit up, and out came Driger, looking happy to be home and more powerful than ever before.

"Huh? Hn," escaped Kai softly, then he smirked. '_Way to go, Ray._'

"Welcome back, now, let us show him the _real_ Tiger Claw!" Ray called out, and the bit beast growled in delight, wanting to stretch his claws. Driger spun through the dish, destroying it as he went past it, leaving a ruined dish behind him. The other blader stood no chance at all, and it was official that the Bladebreakers advanced to the next level.

-

Kai was _not _amused when Tyson refused to wake up the next morning. They left Ray behind to try to get him up, while he, Kenny and Max travelled ahead alongside Mr. Dickenson to at least be there when today's battles begun.

Kai ignored the others when on the bus, preferring to be musing about the possible battles that would occur on that day. He also wondered how late Tyson would cause Ray to be.

Arriving there, Kai was surprised to see that the stands weren't filled to the brick, seeing as this was the semi-finale. Max and Kenny wondered where Tyson and Ray were, when Mr. Dickenson came running up to them.

"Bad news, boys, there has been a landslide!"

Oh, wasn't that lovely. Just perfect. The others were expressing their worry while Kai sat in silence, just listening to their talking. "But what if they never make it?" Kenny asked, and then the lights were dimming, showing the approach of the battles. "Oh, no," he said in despair.

It had been agreed earlier that Max would begin to battle, so they followed that plan. Kai was less than impressed when Max first made a move to finish the battle soon, the saved his opponents blade to continue the battle. He heard Max trying to defend his actions when his opponent began to feel insulted.

"Hey Max, listen to me." The dual-haired blader said.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you just get this over with? I hate to tell you this, but you're starting to embarrass us."

"What?" He whispered.

"A true bey blader doesn't stall for time, no matter what's at stake. So let's get this over with."

"Kai," Kenny injected, but was ignored.

Realisation showed on Max's face, and Kai knew his message had been delivered. He apologized to his opponent, and then attacked. He was surprised when the other blader replied by sending a special attack against him, but Max was not one to be trifled with – this time. He called on Draciel, and the race was on. The blade attack, and was sent flying through the air by Draciel, giving the Bladebreakers their win.

"Jazzman, hold it, we need more time."

"Forget it, Max. I'll go. I'm registered as a substitute anyway. Don't ask me why, because I don't even know. Okay, let's do this." Kai said, standing up and walking up to the dish, surprising the crowd.

The call to start was there, and the battle was over as soon as Dranzer was let loose.

"Get him, Dranzer." Dranzer attacked, and the battle was over. It took mere seconds.

"That... was fast." Kenny said, and Mr. Dickenson replied, "Yes, that's my boy, Kai."

"We forfeit the third battle." Kai said, looking at the Jazzman.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I haven't competed yet!" was heard from across the dish.

"_Are you serious?"_

"I am dead serious. We shouldn't even have to fight a third battle; because it is not the best two out of three wins?" Kai stated.

"_According to the rules of the tournament, it one member of the team forfeit, the whole team forfeits. So you have one minute to decide. And the clock starts now._"

"But, wait." Max tried to argue, but no reply was heard.

"_Team Bladebreakers, you now have fifteen seconds left._"

"My, this is quite the predicament." Mr. Dickenson said.

"I guess all we can do is to throw in the towel." Max replied. "What a rib."

"Hey!" Tyson's voice was heard as he staggered into the arena, carrying Ray in piggy-back style.

Mr. Dickenson looked happy to see him and Ray, and the same went for Max and Kenny.

"Sorry we're late, but we ran into a little landslide back there. So, who's up next?" Tyson asked.

"Tyson." Kenny said relieved.

"Finally woke up, huh?" Kai said smirking.

"I'm ready for some blading." He replied.

While Kenny bound Ray's twisted ankle, Tyson headed up to the dish, and seconds after the blades were set loose.

"_If you thought the last battle was quick, this one is over before you could say cheese on a stick!_" The announcer said, and it was true. The Bladebreakers advanced into the finals, finally. Their next battle would be against the White Tigers.

-

The next day started early for Kai, as he got up to do some training alone. While on the bus to the tournament a few hours later, he vaguely listened to Kenny's forever lasting speech about the plan for the day. The same went for when he was in the locker rooms with the rest of his team.

Max was the player that would be blading first, and as such Kenny spent a lot of time warning him about his opponent, Gary. Surprisingly enough, or maybe not, it was the chief that was most worried about the upcoming battles.

The battle began like any other, with the only worth noticing fact that the dish actually rotated, and was formed like a satellite. A few minutes into the battle, Max tried to attack, letting lose his Draciel, even though Galzzy had been attacking for a small while. Max evaded the attack, and sent Draciel into the spinning part of the dish, surprising Gary, who commanded that Galzzy should follow. Hmm, apparently by doing so, he was wearing down his opponent, Kai heard, according to the other members of his team. After a small while, Draciel replied to Max' call and attack Galzzy, knocking him out of the stadium. That gave the Bladebreakers the first of the three battles that were taking place between Max and Gary.

However, while Max turned his back on his opponent, and walked down to the bench, Kai held his eyes on him, and saw the fanged smile that promised revenge. The bladers were called back, and the second round began. Gary seemed to have lost his patience, as he attacked harshly from the start, his blade actually setting marks from where it hit the dish.

"I'm getting mad," Gary said, and that was all the warning Max got before he attacked and knocked Draciel out of the battle. Max returned to his team, just in time to hear that Kenny's calculations had been mistaken, as Dizzy claimed that he had forgotten about Galzzy and the powers that the bit beast had. Ray warned him that the bit beast was not yet even at full powers, as it fed on the power of his master's anger. Crazy enough, the Galzzy bit beast was already halfway through trashing the stadium. It nothing else, the next battle promised to be interesting.

"I have an idea that just might work..." Tyson said, and then looked at Kenny, and then Max.

"Hey, Tyson, if you're thinking what I'm thinking, then I think I've figured out a strategy that just might work. What do you think, Dizzy?"

"I think it just might work, Chief," she said, and Kenny replied, "Then let's do it."

"I'm open to anything, especially if it will help me win this round." Max said.

"Okay, Max, here's what we have to do," Kenny said, then was interrupted by Dizzy, "Excuse me boys, but let's keep it down? The walls have ears, you know."

"Dizzy's right," Kai said, startling the other Bladebreakers, as they had almost forgotten he were there, "They could be listening." There was a smirk on his face. He enjoyed listening to their planning; trying to figure out if it worked.

"Yeah" Tyson replied, and then Max continued, "I say we have a team meeting."

Soon he was called back to the dish to battle, while Gary came up from the other side. This was it, the deciding round of the first match-off.

Max tried to attack while keeping a defensive position, but all he managed was to anger Gary, which in turn caused Galzzy to erupt from the blade. The red bear destroyed the stadium, burying Draciel within it, and giving White Tigers the lead. Max jumped into the dish, desperate to find his blade and bit beast, which in turn led to Gary commenting to him that is was a good battle.

Kenny mused about what went wrong with their strategy, and hoped that Ray won his rounds. Ray walked forth to the dish, and was met there by Mariah, who seemed excited. The pink haired girl was a fierce opponent. Kai just hoped that Ray wouldn't let his team down. Kai listened to them talking about the fans, and Tyson sounded jealous, when he spoke up. "Listen, Ray's not a good choice to battle Mariah. This could be a bit mistake, guys."

"Yeah, why?"

"They share history together, so how can we be sure that Ray won't forget whose side he's on when Mariah gazes into his eyes?" Kai said, inwardly shuddering about how sappy that last part sounded. Mr. Dickenson just laughed at his fears, claiming that young love would make people do crazy things. Tyson replied to that by cheering Ray on.

The dish they were battling in was a replica of the Forbidden City, and somehow it was fitting. Forbidden place for forbidden friendship. They launched the blades and the battle was on.

Mariah attacked fast, not wanting Ray to let his Driger stabilize, hoping to catch him off guard. Galux slammed into him, causing Driger to wobble, and then Mariah attacked again, this time letting loose her bit beast, beating the blade around like a cat with a ball of yarn. Ray called forth his bit beast, and that ought to even the odds a bit. Ray commanded his tiger to attack, but then, as Kai feared, Mariah managed to divide his attention and making him miss his target. Mariah attacked, and sent Driger flying into the palace building in the dish, thereby winning the first round.

"What was that? I've never seen Ray miss like that before!" Tyson asked the rest of the team.

"Didn't I say this would happen?" Kai replied, sounding annoyed, "Ray is letting his old feelings for Mariah get the better of him. I knew it."

"What? No way!" Tyson objected.

"But Kai?! Ray wouldn't do that! I'm sure he's trying his best, despite his past relationship with the White Tigers." Max said, backing up Tyson.

"You better believe it, got that, Kai?" Tyson said demandingly. The two turned to Ray, who had been busy staring at his blade while the two argued with their captain.

"You can't let her get you so rattled, got that, dude?" Max called out, and Tyson continued the little pep talk. "Clear your mind, and focus on the battle."

"Ray!" Mariah suddenly called out, "I want to win, but not this way. What are you trying to prove by going so easy on me anyway?"

"I'm not."

"Oh, give me a break, Ray, would you please? I know what you're capable off, so at least make me work for it."

The second battle began, and tension was high. If they lost again, they were eliminated, and Ray would lose his White Tiger. Mariah egged Ray on, wanting a real battle from him, and not just some wimpy blading. She actually warned him that unless he won, he would lose his bit beast, and that caused his determination to win to raise a few notches.

Max, Tyson and Kenny cheered Ray on, while Kai walked up to the dish, intending on giving a piece of advice himself. "Hey Ray. I know your loyalties are torn, but get over it. Your team mates are counting on you." That caused Ray to pay more attention to him. "Wake up Ray!"

"So what are you getting at, Kai?" he asked.

"Battles need to be fought with the head, and not the heart." Kai replied, and then he walked back to the bench, intending to let the outcome be as it would be now. Leaving a thoughtful Ray behind to battle.

The other three Bladebreakers just stared at him, never once having expected _Kai_ of all persons to give a team member advice, or dare they call it, pep talk.

"Aww, and here we thought you didn't care," Dizzy said.

"All Kai really did, was to get Ray riled up." Kenny replied.

"Well, unplug me if I'm wrong, but I think that was the whole idea." She told him.

"You're right, Mariah." Ray said, almost whispering.

"I am?"

"Driger is more than just an ally to me, he's a friend, and there is no way I'm going to give him up without a fight. I won't let my feelings for you stand in the way of victory. Now get ready to feel the full blown force of the White Tiger powers." Ray said, determined to win, and Driger attacked, mimicking the mindset of his master.

"That's more like it!" She replied."I'll know that I really earned it! Galux, NOW!" She called out, and the great cat appeared outside the blade.

"Two can play it that way. Driger, do your thing!" Ray called out, and the tiger appeared, attack Galux ferociously. "Galux, scratch attack." "Driger, tiger claw attack!" The blades hit each other, and there was no saying would win. Driger was barely spinning when they caught sight of him, but Galux was the first to completely lose the spin, giving Ray the win of the second round. Tyson was excited, claiming that he'd love to have another battle like that, but Kenny tried to disengage that train of thought, as he feared he'd get a heart attack then. The members on the bench, with the exception of Kai, began to cheer Ray on, wanting another win.

The third battle begun shortly after that, with Ray spent the first minutes tailing Mariah's Galux, not wanting to give in to the pressure of having to attack from the beginning. Mariah tried her scratch attack, but she missed, and Ray replied by slamming into Galux, trying to knock the blade of balance. He kept his blade close to Mariah's, not wanting to be caught in her claws. Suddenly the entire mood changed, and Dizzy put it quite the right way. "There is more to this than meets the eye." Mariah and Ray kept talking about the 'olden days', and suddenly Dizzy understood, probably having spent the last few minutes analyzing what was going on.

"Oh, I get it now. Driger and Galux created a bond to try to rekindle Ray and Mariah's friendship," She said. Kai was amazed, even though he didn't show it.

"Mariah! You want me to promise? Well, I'll promise that no matter who wins the battle, we'll always be friends! You always assumed that when I left the White Tiger team, I was turning my back on you. But that wasn't it at all. I needed to get away, and prove to myself that I could be as good as everyone wanted me to be. Seriously, Mariah, I'll always remember the awesome time we shared, and no matter how far apart we are, I promise that no one can ever cut that special bond we share, a bond that was formed when we were little, and has been growing stronger ever since."

"Thank you, Ray" she said, and the battle continued, now that the past had been explained. The two blades went head to head, or rather, blade to blade, and in the end, there were only one left spinning. Mariah's blade was spotted when the smoke cleared, but Galux had lost all spin. Driger, when he was finally seen, actually managed to keep spinning for a few seconds, before he too stopped. But it was enough to give the Bladebreakers the win, leaving them at a stalemate with the White Tigers. The final match off between Tyson and Lee would decide everything.

The third battle started with showing the dish, wish should have frightened Tyson as it was dangerous for the blades. However, Tyson didn't pay much attention to that, nor did he notice that Lee's focus weren't on him, but rather on...

Ray. The blader with the White Tiger bit beast. The one bit beast that should have been Lee's according to him. Tyson seemed frustrated about that, not seeing the possibility to win easier that way. Kai knew better, though. He might even get off his lazy arse and advice him as well, if it was needed. Tyson talked some trash that Lee replied to, and the battle was on.

The blades make contact, grinding against each other. Tyson tried attacking, but he didn't expect Lee to reply to the attack as he did. "Dark lightning," Lee said, and there was a flash of light and Dragoon went flying through the air and out of the stadium, giving Lee and the White Tigers the first round.

"Uhm, chief, do we have a plan b?"

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened to plan A." Kenny replied, and then asked Dizzy to enlighten them. She said something about Galeon having learned to harness more energy while still inside his blade, making the attack more powerful in a way. Kenny complained about that not giving them a way to beat him nonetheless.

"Chill out, guys, if we don't have all the answers, we'll just improvise." Tyson said from up at the dish.

"Tell Ray that if he had stayed with the White Tigers, he would have learned my energy trick too. But he didn't, and now you will have to pay the price by losing the tournament, and going home. Enjoy letting your team mates down, Ray, because you're just so good at it." Lee said harshly.

"As if." Ray replied.

"I only wish I was taking _you_ on, so I could really rub it in."

"Don't solve me by acting as if you've already won. It's not over yet, Lee!" Tyson argued, and then he almost jumped to the sky when Kai's voice was heard from behind him.

"His entire focus is on Ray."

"Well, duh? I know that. Why state the obvious, Kai?"

"Because you're missing an opportunity. His mind is elsewhere. He's expecting something desperate from you. Do the obvious and confuse him." Kai said, advising him softly. He wondered if Tyson would listen.

"Now that you mention it... Maybe I..." Tyson trailed of in thoughts, and Kai smirked. Who knew the blue haired guy actually could think? "Bring it on, Lee!" Tyson called out as Jazzman began to count down.

The blades were launched, and the battle was on, and Kenny despaired as Dragoon was driven towards the sandy part of the dish. "I told him once, and I told him a hundred times; stay away from the sand!"

"Actually, Kenny, you did just tell him once." Dizzy injected.

"Once should be enough, Dizzy, it's a pain when people don't listen." Kenny replied.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening."

"But I listened!" Tyson said, hearing that last part. "But what can I do? He's forcing me into the sand." He continued, looking at Kai. "Then use it!" Kai replied. "Make it yours."

"Make it mine? But how?" He stayed silent, and then spoke up, or rather, talked to himself, "But who knows... Time to shake things up! Go, Dragoon!" Tyson called out, preparing to take it to the next level. Dragoon swept out into the sand, and complains were heard from the bench, while Kai was being silent as per usual.

"Dark lightning!" Lee called out, and Galeon prepared for his attack.

"Alright! Dragoon, storm attack!" The sand from the storm attack caused a desert storm, and Galeon was heading right for it, and was actually knocked out of the game by Dragoon, as the attack caused Galeon to stop spinning. Dragoon himself had taken a flight, and landed neatly on the rocky part of the stadium. Kenny and Max cheered for the victory, and Tyson turned around.

"Yeah, thanks, Kai! That was some good advice." He said delighted.

"I wouldn't go celebrating just yet. Look" causing Tyson to look back at Lee, as Kai advised him to, "you've just rattled the cage of a sleeping lion, Tyson. And now that he's awake, his claws will be drawn." Kai told him. Tyson stared at the sudden feline eyes of Lee, completely freaked out by the sudden change, until he began chuckling that is. "Maybe you could use a nail file? Those claws are pretty dull."

Kai could see the White Tiger members on the other side talk, but they were too far away for him to be able to hear what they said, but he imaged it wasn't good. But then again, Tyson _had_ just insulted their team captain, and that was bound to end in disaster.

And then the third session of the battle began. "Now, kick it!" Tyson called out.

"Listen up, Tyson; the only thing you'll be kicking is yourself. My bit beast has bite, and he's ready to sink his fangs into yours." Lee said, and as he spoke Galeon's bit lit up. The dark lion that was Galeon came forth, enraged and ready to battle. "Galeon is NO lap cat!" Lee continued as the blades attacked each other, lightning erupting as they did so.

"Hey, Dizzy, you weren't kidding about Galeon being stronger this time." Kenny said, awed.

"Do I ever kid around on the job? Don't answer that." Kai smirked at the last part; those two were rather amusing to listen to.

Lee attacked, and sent Dragoon into the air, but it was not over yet. However, Lee preferred glaring Ray instead of Tyson, as if the battle was against the former instead of the latter.

"Back off, Lee!" Ray said.

"What's wrong, Ray? Do I scare you?" Lee replied.

"I'm the one you should be scared of!" Tyson injected, and they continued arguing, both wanting a victory. Lee sent Galeon attacking, and Tyson replied by having Dragoon attack back. The battle was intense, the might of the bit beast blinding the stadium. The team mates standing in front of their team area talked about how Tyson should blade to win, but in the end it didn't matter as both blades stopped spinning, leaving it as a tie.

"_To break the deadlock, a fourth and final battle will be held to determine the champion. Teams will select their own player for the sudden death battle._"

"Yeah, I'm going to win this thing," Tyson said, sure that he would be the one battling. He began to walk forward, but was called back by Ray. "Tyson, wait."

"Yeah?"

"Tyson, I want to take on Lee."

"Yeah? Seriously?" Max asked, surprised.

"But Tyson's got momentum? Dizzy's data suggests -" Kenny was interrupted as Ray closed the laptop, "Ignore the data, Chief. Lee and I have a score to settle. Tyson, can I? I know I can win this."

"He's all yours, Ray! Make your team mates proud. Good luck." Tyson replied.

The battle began, and the tension was high. They all knew what was at stakes.

"Driger, tiger claw attack!" Ray commanded, suddenly deciding to begin the battle seriously.

"You DARE to insult me?!" Lee called out enraged, and replied the attack with Gary's bear axe attack. Next up was Mariah's Scratch attack, followed by the Crazy Monkey attack that was Kevin's signature move. Kenny and Tyson wondered how that was possible, and Mariah heard them, and decided to reply. "Actually, they are signature moves from our home town, and if Ray hadn't moved away, he would have mastered them all as Lee did. Tyson replied that Ray could still win.

"Nice job, showing off." Ray said.

"Ray, I'm just showing you the moves that you could have learned."

"Really?"

"But you deserted your friends and your family to follow another path. The least I can do for you, old friend, is to make sure you go home A LOSER!" Lee screamed the last part, and attacked ferociously. "The entire dish is beginning to crumble under the weight of my attack. If you were smart, you'd throw in the towel now!"

However, Ray never did that when commanded, so he continued battling, looking for a chance to win. Lee ranted to Mariah, who came up to him, claiming that battling like he did, ripping his blade apart, was not the way to blade. Lee threw back things about the past, things that hurt, and somehow just managed to make Ray hungrier for victory. Lee called Galeon to attack, and despair was heard at that, as Galeon prepared the Dark Lightning, Black Thunder attack that was his signature move.

The Bladebreakers began advising Ray on what course of action he should take, brining in the fact that Lee was hothead not caring about planning. The team advised him to play with Lee's emotions, hoping that would help. Kenny also advised Ray to keep to the basics, as that was his strength.

"You haven't forgotten about me, have you, Ray? I am going to make you sorry you ever left our little home town!" Lee called out, smirking.

"I've never been sorry I left."

"Say what?!" That wiped the grin of his face.

"It's true. But you don't think have the right to make their own choices in life. Moving away isn't a crime, Lee! I did it so I could expand my horizons. Learn some new things. I didn't forget the lessons I learned back home, I just learned new ways to improving on those lessons."

"Improve on them?" Lee asked, sounding insulted. "That's a lie."

"Then let me give you a demonstration. Your Black Lightning attack? I'm going to use it against you, but with a new twist I've picked up. It will make you green with envy." Ray said.

"I don't think so. Nothing can improve on... The original Black Lightning, Dark Thunder attack!"

"If your mind wasn't so closed, Lee, you you'd understand. You can always learn new things! Tiger Claw attack!" Ray yelled, and then the aforementioned attacks were released. The stadium lit green from the light of the released Driger bit beast, and the force from the attack began to demolish the stadium, and as if that was not enough, the power also sent Galeon flying out of the stadium, landing in front of the captain of the White Tiger team.

"Mhm." Kai smirked. '_About time he was put in his place.'_

"You did it, you beat me, Ray." Lee said surprised.

"You know, I'm not the same kid you knew back then, Lee." Ray said, as Lee fell to his knees, looking at his blade.

"_The Bladebreakers are the new tournament champions!"_

"I'm so happy, we won the Asian tournament, we won!" Kenny said, crying with happiness, while Max jumped with delight.

"Nice work, couldn't have done it better myself." Tyson said, smiling widely.

"Hardly, but thanks for the thumbs up."

"It was sure tense there for a minute though." Max said smiling.

"Too tense for my taste." Kai said, getting all their attention when he spoke up. "But you pulled it off, Ray, and that's what counts. Congratulations are in order, I guess."

"Yes!"

"Indeed they are." Mr. Dickenson, that somehow had appeared, said. "Winning the championship is a huge accomplishment."

"We were just glad to be here," Mariah said suddenly, catching their attention.

"But you lost?"

"It builds character. We'll improve."

"Oh, if I'd stayed back home, I would never have seen such an incredible battle, that's for sure." Kevin told them.

"Me neither. I haven't had so much fun since we had pig rolls back at the farm."

"Hmm, now I'm getting hungry." Tyson said in reply to Gary's comment, causing Max to laugh. However, he turned quiet as Lee approached.

"Well, then?" Ray asked.

Lee growled, but then replied. "You were right. I did have a closed mind."

"Lee..."

"I see now that leaving was beneficial for you, and our home town, because the skills you've learned, I know you will be back some day. You're good, Ray, you've very good. The pursuit of knowledge is a quest worth continuing."

"Thanks, Lee." Ray said, smiling, as they clasped their hands together in a truce of friendship.

And so ended the Asian tournament. The next challenge would be the American tournament.

-

**A/N:**

Fitting place to end it? Hope you enjoyed it. It was a nightmare. :P But, I'm doing my best. And it's unbetaed, I'll probably end up reading through it in the future, but that's for then. It's NaNo. I haven't got time to edit things. :P Too much details? Might be, but I like to pretend that in this story, you can't see the anime, and therefore need the details. But then again, not everything _is going to_ _be_ like it is in the anime. And, even though you might not be able to see it yet, this story is supposed to be centred on Kai. It is also quite possible that this will end in a TyKa, but I haven't really planned it yet.

Anyway, got to continue writing, so until next time!

LadyEvansPotter.


	3. Chapter 1, part 2

**Flight of the Phoenix**

Authored by: Lady Evans Potter

**Disclaimer: **See first chapter.

**Chapter 1, part two**

The team split up, with Kenny, Tyson and Max returning to Japan briefly before they were going to the American tournament. Kai himself returned to the manor where he and his grandfather usually resided. Not that his grandfather was home now a days. Voltaire was in Russia, Moscow, more specific, planning something with a guy called Boris. Kai spent his days training in solace, briefly wondering what he was doing there. But, it wasn't like t affected him, was it?

Voltaire retuned the evening before Kai and the rest of his team was going to America to compete, and while eating dinner, Voltaire wanted to speak to him.

"So Kai, listen carefully. When you're at the American tournament, you must find all the bey blades that possess the bit beasts within them. Do you understand? Do you?" Voltaire half commanded, half asked him.

Kai quit eating, and left the dining room. "Hn. I understand your little plan. And I'll get what you want." '_Don't you worry, grandfather, I'll use the power of my Dranzer to flush them out .And when I do, I will be crowned the undisputed bey blading champion of the world._'

-

The flight to the United States of America was hardly noteworthy, as he spent the entire time thinking about what kind of bit beasts they would without doubt run into. He barely noticed Tyson's never ending complains of stomach aches, nor all the research Kenny was finishing.

Kai barely listened when Max started talking about meeting his mother, who apparently worked and lived in America, again for the first time in a long while. After arriving at the hotel, Tyson began to admire the tall buildings, muttering about them looking way smaller on the pictures.

"Do you think the building grew since the pictures were taken?" Tyson asked Kenny, whom replied. "My calculations shows that they are the same size that they were when we left, or we forgot how high they were, or we've been shrinking."

"Hey, we can take an elevator all the way to the highest floor. Race you to the top!" Tyson challenged.

"Don't forget; we are here for the American tournament," Kai said suddenly, getting all the attention once again. "And we still got a lot of training to do." That caused Tyson to groan, and reply;

"Fine, ruin all our fun."

Max intervened before it could before a larger discussion, claiming that his mother worked in the neighbourhood, and that they could visit her instead. Tyson looked to Kai to get the allowance to run off alongside Max, and when Kai didn't seem to care, Tyson wanted to pick a fight with his team captain. Not that that would go well, and Kenny knew that, as he stopped it before it could even begin.

Suddenly, around the corner there came a BBA bus, which honked on them. And who would come out to the bus, but Mr. Granger, whom was Tyson's grandpa?

Kai kept being a bit weirded out by Mr. Granger's talking habits and behaviour, but he supposed that it was something that one got used to. However, he had to keep back a smirk when he heard the elder harping on about Tyson needing to train if he ever wanted to achieve something. He then continued to 'show them some moves', as he called it, by swinging his kendo stick.

Ray arrived along with Mr. Granger, and informed them that they had an appointment, which was a surprise. Kai wondered briefly what it was, before deciding that he'd just go along for the trip. However, once on the bus and on the way to wherever they were heading, he had to admit he wondered a bit about the sanity of the elder Granger male.

Arriving at the Project Power Beyblade, also known as the PPB centre, the Bladebreakers were to receive a guided tour of the official centre. While it was an interesting tour, Kai couldn't help but notice that they placed a lot of fate in their technology. Not to mention that Kenny was way to in love with the facility. They were _not_ going to lose their resident beyblade expert because of some technology. The BBA centre PPB was all about discovering new ways to improve the bey blades and the blader's ability to blade with them, to make sure that they won. Sure, it was an impressive centre, but what could technology present to brute force and the love of the game, as Tyson usually preached on about.

When Max caught sight of his mother, Kai was surprised. Had he not said that his mother worked as a teacher earlier? However, most of them let their jaws meet the floor when it was announced that Judy Tate, Max's mother, was head of the research and development department of the BBA department in America. It turned out that Judy being a teacher was a lie, as she hadn't wanted Max or his friends to know where she really worked. Wonder why... not to mention the cold tone she adopted when she came face to face with the Bladebreakers. It was a bit worrying, as if it bothered her that Max on the team.

When she took over the field trip, and kept telling them about the Project Power Beyblade research, Tyson just _had_ to open his big mouth and make a comment about the bey blade being as powerful as the blader that uses it, which in turn made Emily, the girl that was walking alongside them, present the challenge that the Bladebreakers could have a three on three battle against some of the PPB's bladers. It turned out that she was a bey blader, not just a scientist.

Kai looked at them, having a bad feeling about this.

"Got something to say, tough guy?" Emily asked, looking at him.

"This is a waste of time." He replied sounding indifferent.

"Count me in!" Tyson asked, and dragged with him Max and Ray.

That Tyson won the first round, and Ray the next, wasn't important, even if they would win the best out of three battles then. What was important, however, was Max's battle against Emily, as she was the one that was on the higher level.

"Hmm, looks like all your funky science fictions stuff doesn't cut it." Grandpa Granger said, causing Judy to smile.

"I'm not so sure about that. It's all a little too easy." Kai commented, and Judy smirked. That's it, Kai knew he was right. The next battle would show the truth then.

And what did it show? The Bladebreakers down at the dish had seriously underestimated Emily, as shown when she defeated Max in seconds.

"Don't worry, we still won the battle, with two out of three, against the best this centre this has to offer," Tyson told Max, assuring him that the loss didn't matter.

"Not quite right," Kai said as he, the elder Granger and Judy came down to the training area. "It turns out you've all been used as lab rats."

"What?" Tyson asked shocked.

"You tell them, Emily." Kai replied.

"It's true, I'm afraid. Tony and Andy are two of our very lowest level trainees."

"What? That can't be!" Tyson objected.

"Oh, but it can." Judy replied. "And thanks to your little demonstration, we've accessed the skill level of your entire team. All it took was the two of our newest members to lead you into showing us what we wanted to see. Good work, trainees."

"Of course, I'm much further advanced," Emily said.

"Inviting us here to study us and learn our strategies was a majorly dirty trick." Ray said insulted.

"Don't forget; you were the ones who were so gung-who on showing how much better you were than our members. If you ask me, you got just what you deserved." Emily replied.

Kenny wondered, "You say you've collected all the data, but I don't see a computer anywhere in this room. "

"Right here," Emily replied, tapping her temple.

"Amazing," Kenny said excited. "Whose side are you on?" Tyson demanded to know, as Kenny looked completely awed by it.

"The most important thing that was learned by all this was that your team is no match for ours relieved players, which means you'll pose no threat to our BBA team in the American tournament. And so, science has once again triumphed over spirit."

-

Their trip through the BBA PPB centre continued, and they were offered to eat at the PPB cantina, for free, which they did. They small talked as they did so, and even Kenny wanted seconds, which was a first.

"I'm sorry you're still feeling upset about that, Tyson," Judy said when Tyson complained about the PPB wanting to know all their team secrets. "Your match against the All Stars was intended to be friendly."

"Director". A man said, coming up to them.

"Time for our meeting already?" Judy asked.

"You bet."

"Excuse me, everyone, but duty calls."

"Judy!" Emily said, running after her. "I have a question."

"Hey doc, if you want to keep your secrets secret, you better be careful what you say around Emily." Tyson called out as a jibe when the aforementioned girl left the table.

"Listen you guy. It's been a long day, how about we get going?" Ray asked them.

"It's too bad we can't stay here instead of our hotel." Tyson commented.

"That'd be nice." Kenny agreed.

Max sighed, as he probably kept thinking about his loss to Emily.

"Hey, Max? Why the long face?" Tyson inquired.

"Losing is bad enough, but I lost in front of my mum." He replied.

"Ah, don't worry. That match didn't count. You weren't fully prepared for it. Your mum knows that."

"Hn. Hardly." Kai said, putting down his cup of coffee.

"Say what?" Tyson exclaimed surprised.

"That's an excuse. In this game you have you be prepared for anything, anytime." Kai sad.

"I got to say, Kai, you can be a real downer." Kenny commented.

"I try. Someone has to be the voice of reason on the team." Kai replied, sipping his coffee.

"Voice of reason?" Tyson asked standing up. "Cut the guy some slack. That match didn't count, end of story."

"For someone who hates spicy food, you sure can be a real hot head." Kai replied.

"Yo, dudes, it's time you tuned into my frequency. I'm getting a real bad vibe from you, dudes, so listen up. No one's jamming or bussing beater on this team, because you're both right. It's true that your match meant squad, bit after any takedown, it's you're re-bounce that make it sweeter sour. From my experience, to get your mojo back into the groove, forget your free falling, and get back to smashing those boys." Grandpa Granger said, offering a piece of weirdly worded advice.

"That's grandpa for you. He's the man of old with a mind of gold." Tyson said, managing to insult the elder. Not smart.

"Who do you call old? Grandpa called out.

"The correct term is distinguished senior." Kenny said which only served to insult him further, and let him to showing off his skills with the kendo sword.

"Hey, guys? Why don't we check out this BBA research centre a bit more before we leave?"

"We could," Kenny replied to Tyson's question, "according to Dizzy, this is a ten level complex, and we've only seen the first level."

"Maybe we'll learn something."

"I see where you're coming from. The All Stars train here." Max agreed.

"Eh, so?"

"We could learn some of their secrets for a change."

"Way to go, chief." Tyson replied. "I knew you'd catch on."

"This place is so high tec., it's be fun to explore. I know I'm in."

"I'm in too," Ray agreed. "Let's do it."

"Alright. What are we waiting for?" Max asked.

"Our fifth wheel, of course. Kai? You coming?

Kai looked majorly bored where he sat, sipping his coffee. "And skip dessert?"

"I thought so. Keep up the good party booming." Tyson said, and the other three left alongside him, leaving Kai alone... Ah, blessed silence.

He just sat there, sipping his coffee. His type of dessert would include a good bey battle against a worthy opponent, which he would win, of course.

However, Kai left after a long while, intending to follow his team.

-

'_What was I thinking? Letting them explore this place by themselves? They've been gone for over two hours now. Something __**must**__ have happened to them. I'm their leader; I'm supposed to be looking out them. _' Kai thought as he jumped down from the ventilations system, and ran down a corridor.

He found them just as Max had discovered his mother and Emily walking down the hallway and Max moved, triggering the infrared sensors that was in that particular hallway. Kai sprinted forth, grabbed Max, and pulled him alongside to where the rest of the team stood, just as a wall of glass blocked the hallway, sending the two of them landing on the floor.

Max called after his mother, but it did no good, as she just walked away. Tyson prepared to help, launching Dragoon to smash the glass, but it didn't work either. Tyson began to argue with Ray and Max about how they were going to get out of there now, seeing as the apparent key didn't work.

"What's the fastest way out of here?" Tyson asked.

Kai was looking at a pair of new arrivals as he replied. "Past them." They wore cloaks that covered them, but the heads were viewable. One guy had green hair, while the other was black haired.

"Funny. Intruders usually don't make it this far into the facility." The boy with green hair said.

"I don't care what you call them. Spies are spies." The other one replied, and with a snap of his fingers he stopped the annoying alarm that had warned them of the intruders. In return, Kenny had to state that they did so. Talking about saying what was obvious.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" Tyson asked.

"Who do you think we are, exactly? One of the two strangers replied.

"Hmm... let's see. You guys aren't the janitors, are you?" Tyson asked, causing Max, Ray and Kenny to fall to the floor anime style.

"No, Mr. Funny Man, but we are going to take out any trash we see in our hallways." The taller of the two, the black haired guy, said.

"We heard the Bladebreakers were in our facility and here you are. Coincidence?" The green haired guy said.

"So what if we are? Got a problem with that?" Ray asked.

"Good question. We are not security guards, so we don't really care. What we _do_ care about, are guys who try to sneak peak at us."

"Especially team with the moves around. And that team is the All Stars."

"No way!" Tyson objected.

What followed was a battle of trash talking between Tyson, Ray and Steve, the green haired dude and Eddy, the other stranger.

"_The bit beasts that our team use are incredibly strong."_ Kai heard, but decided that he was better off not paying attention. They were boring. But he did halfway listen to them, and was surprised to hear they mention that their bit beast was created by their laboratories.

Soon after, there was a battle between Ray and Steve. After two minutes, Steve called forth his bit beast, Tryhorn, which Dizzy confirmed that was artificially created. It drew Kai's attention. A dark smirk marred his face. '_Huh, we learned at least one of their secrets._'

The battle continued for a few more minutes, but in the end, Driger and Ray lost.

Steve boasted, and decided to show off, destroying the glass wall behind them with his blade.

They continued talking, while Kai spent the time studying the broken glass wall, thinking. '_In losing, you can learn a lot, and we did both._'

-

It was evening by the time the Bladebreakers finally got out of the BBA PPB centre. Grandpa Granger complained about aches in his muscles, since he had been showing off for hours with his kendo skills.

"I'm still thinking about the All Stars." Tyson said.

"You knew they would be a really good team, maybe the best." Kenny replied.

"Their talent comes from technology, not themselves."

"That's a good point," Kenny replied. "But regardless..."

"They're good. I know that."

"They're not unbeatable, Tyson!" Kai injected, looking back at the pair sitting diagonally behind him on the BBA bus. "You said so yourself. Focus on how they're beatable."

"I'm trying!"

"Our moves... still need work," Kenny said and opened his laptop to begin to work.

Kai stared out of the window, wishing they would soon be back at the hotel. '_This will be our toughest struggle to date. And as first time as team leader, I don't have all the answers._

-

The next morning they were heading out to some ridicules training camp in the wildness that Mr. Dickenson had booked them on. It was a bumpy ride, as it was a gravel road, complete with larger stones in the road as well.

"Man, these mountains go on forever." Tyson said, looking out of the window.

"Yeah," Max concurred. "They sure are amazing. I could probably live here. I'm so glad we're a chance to enjoy them today."

"So, what's the deal on this secret training camp Mr. Dickenson wrote you about?" Kai asked, looking at Kenny.

"He didn't really say anything. I imagine he thinks we could use a little extra practice, I guess. He might be right."

"I suppose he heard about... my loss." Ray said, hesitating on the last part. "I think that pretty much explains it."

"Come on, we could all use some blade time, we got to get tuned for the American tournament." Tyson said, sounding exited.

"Besides, a little training never hurt anyone. I've heard this tournament is going to be even tougher, so we each have to be at the top of our game, right?"

The car hit a rock, causing a jump in the car, and sending Tyson sprawling out on the floor of the car, and as soon as he was back in his seat he asked, "Where the heck is this place?"

"Yeah, no kidding. Hey, Kenny, are you sure about those directions Mr. Dickenson emailed you?"

Max barely managed to finish his sentence before the car hit another rock, and a few members of the team was thrown a bit off balance by it.

"Ouch! Take it easy, buddy." Tyson complained, rubbing his head.

"Here's a suggestion: you might want to try belting up." Kai said.

"Hey! I'll belt you!

"Tyson, Kai is right. So synch it up there, little dude. Only a poser would ride around without one on." Another rock and grandpa Granger complained. "Me and my big mouth."

"You alright?" Ray asked him.

"He's okay," Tyson said, not feeling the least sorry for his grandpa accident. "Grandpa's head is pretty thick."

"You got a point there," Grandpa replied. "I better hardness myself though, before I do me some damage."

"Who said you can't teach an old dog some new tricks?" Tyson asked, before he and his granddad started to argue, once again. Did they ever do anything else than argue and train?

They arrived at a cabin in the woods, where the driver dumped them. Parts of the team, namely Tyson, Max and Kenny, called after the driver, not wanting to be abandoned in the wilderness. Kai just looked around, displeased. '_This must be some kind of joke._'

"Cool it dudes, and smell that mountain air." Grandpa Granger said, sniffing the air. "Ah, fresh."

Suddenly, a boy came out of nowhere, and began talking, calling them 'new recruits'. He introduced himself as Antonio, and said that he was there to train them. Train _them_... It looked more like he would be the one in need of training.

"Let's give the guy a chance," Kenny asked of them.

"Well, it doesn't look like we have any other choice. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere," Kai replied.

"Yeah, I know." Kenny said.

Tyson began to babble with the new guy, and while doing so, challenged him to a battle to see what he got of beyblade power. The Bladebreakers gathered around the tree stump that Tyson thought would do as a dish, and the countdown began.

"Time to see you style."

"Ready, let's see you give it your best shot, Tyson."

The two boys let it rip, and Dragoon hit the stadium as per usual, while Antonio, surprisingly, missed it, leaving him to bemoan that fact. Kai stared. _This _guy was supposed to train them? He couldn't even land in the stadium with his blade!

The Antonio guy kept talking about how he was the best blader from where he was from, and that he'd been hooked ever since his first spin, that he never got enough of it, and that he believed that he could be the best blader in the entire world.

After hearing the sappy story, Tyson leapt forward and promised that they would help him make his dream come true. Kenny, however, seemed to be more in control of the situation.

"Tyson, hang on. That was a touching story, but you are forgetting why we came up here." He said. "I'm sure Antonio could be a great bey blader, however, right now, we don't have the time to teach a rookie. We've got to stay focused on the American tournament. I hate to be the bad guy, Tyson, but that's the way I see it." Kai agreed with that. He'd rather be off somewhere by himself to be training, to improve his skills.

"Cut me some slack," Tyson said.

"I can't. Are you forgetting about Ray's last battle? If you forgot, he lost it. That means we're not number one, right?"

"He he, I'm not forgetting anything. There's plenty of time left to train." Tyson replied, while Ray adopted a thoughtful look at the mention of the last bey battle. "Besides, I say it's kinda hard to practice frontier."

"Well, it's not anything like the BBA training centre, but we're stuck here." Max said.

"Come on, guys, would you take a look around you. Let's forget about practicing, and relax for once. Life's too short to argue." Tyson suggested.

"Tyson..." Kenny whined, probably wanting to actually get some work done.

"It's all settled then!" Tyson said, acting as his usual hyperactive self.

Antonio called Tyson back, handing him a key given to him by Mr. Dickenson, mentioning that it was intended for Ray and the Chief.

What followed was not exciting, just another room set up with research equipment, probably to improve Driger and Ray's battle technique. However, they soon turned away from that, and Antonio led them, meaning Max, Kai, Tyson, and himself, up the mountain to train on some small hills in front of a water fall.

Kai battled against Max, while Tyson was left with the rookie, who kept lecturing him. Of course, the brat couldn't follow his own advice, and lost his bey blade in the waters.

What followed then was physical training, which wasn't that hard on Kai, seeing as he usually trained before anyone else on the team even thought of waking up.

When the evening came, most parts of the Bladebreakers went inside to sleep, Kai walked outside. He leaned against a tree as he watched Antonio trying to train by himself. The younger boy didn't do much good. He expected chance to fast.

"It's hopeless. I'll never be good at bey blading." Antonio muttered to himself.

"You don't become good overnight. It takes years." Kai said, causing the other boy to turn around.

"But I want to get better at it. So I watch you and Tyson and Max to learn as much as I can. And you watch; One day I'll be world champion."

"You can dream all you want kid, but it won't help. Because when you wake up from your dreams, you realize nothing is changed. And there is only one way to make sure that those dreams come true. You have to dedicate your entire life to your sport, and keep focused. Otherwise, my friend, you might as well quit wasting your time." Kai said.

"Well, maybe you can show me a few tricks or something to make me better." Antonio replied.

"I really don't have time for this, so if you wouldn't mind, could you please take a hike?" Kai asked sarcastically, which served to annoy the kid.

"I'm not leaving, and you can't make me."

"What was that?" Kai said softly.

"You might be better than me right now, but the day will come when I'm ten times the blader you ever were, you mark my words! And then you'll be sorry you ever talked to me like that. I'll be the world champion and you'll be nothing but a worthless chomp!"

Kai smirked.

"You've got guts kid," He said.

"What?"

"Now I understand why you get along so well with Tyson. You were both stubborn."

"Just what are you saying?"

"You both believe you can do anything as long as you believe enough in yourselves. Oh... Hey, that's it! It makes perfect sense." Kai said, suddenly understanding why Mr. Dickenson sent them to this godforsaken place.

"Hm?"

Kai turned back to Antonio, smirking, "Antonio, how would you like to beat Tyson?" That shocked the kid.

"Whhha? I'd do anything to make that happen."

"Good." And so, the two spent a large part of the remaining evening, and some of the night, to train Antonio to become a much better blader, and maybe even becoming able to beat Tyson.

-

The next morning Tyson didn't back down when Antonio challenged him to a new battle, to avenge his last loss.

"Come on, kid, show me what you've got!" Tyson called out.

"Aw, you're not so tough."

"What?"

"Ready to go again?"

"Anytime you want."

"Okay. But you are going down."

"That's what you think."

"Three, two, one, LET IT RIP!" Max called out.

The blades hit the stump and the battle began. "Now, you get it."

"Oh yeah!" the kid's beyblade evaded Tyson's Dragoon just as it was about to attack, and that Antonio wasn't knocked out surprised Tyson.

"It's time to take you out!"Antonio called out, and his blade followed the order. It attacked Dragoon, who was spinning close to the edge of the stump, and the blade began to wobble.

"Close, but no sugared." Tyson, but then he and Max stared as the wobbling caused Dragoon to spin out of the stadium.

"Dragoon is out of here. You winner and new champ is...Antonio!" Max said, announcing the end of the battle since there were no Jazzman around there.

"I can't believe I actually did it!"

"Huh? Think you're good? Well, I'll show you, you little dweeb." Tyson said angrily.

"Don't be such a bad looser. I beat you fair and square." The kid adopted a grateful look as he looked at Kai. "But I would never have won if Kai hadn't helped me practice."

"I can't believe I just heard that!" Tyson said astonished. "You've always saying _just leave me alone_ and now you come butting in? Do you mind explain what's up with that?"

"Your little fit only shows your complete lack of maturity, Tyson. What I choose to do is my business, so why don't you butt up?"

"Argh, why do I even bother with you? One day you're a loser, the next you're not. Would you please make up your mind?" Tyson complained.

"Hey, chill out, little dude, so what's up with slanging Kai for slamming blades with the new dog?" Grandpa Granger interfered before it could get into a real argument.

"Wha? What do you mean, grandpa?"

"Tyson. You see trees but no forest; you dig what I'm putting down."

"I'm not sure I follow you," Tyson replied.

"Then I'll translate, dude. As long as you practise and stay focused, you always get better at blading."

"Oh, like I didn't know that." He replied sarcastically.

"But you keep forgetting it. Isn't that how _you_ got good?"

"Uh, well ..." Talking about knowing what to say to make him shut up. That could be admirable.

"Okay, I think this is finally starting to make sense to me. It's all about practise makes perfect. And it doesn't matter where you are, or what kind of blade you have, as long as you practise, you'll get better. Ah, man, I can't believe I was that stupid." Tyson said after some serious thinking.

"Alright, guys, we got some serious practising to do!" And so, the rest of the day went to practising. By nightfall the team plus Antonio was exhausted. Like the evening before, the team minus Kai headed inside to sleep, while he sat down outside, relaxing in front of the bon fire burning there. He was then joined by Grandpa Granger.

"You've done good, bro."

"I didn't do anything."

"On the contrary K-man, you did some serious preaching to Tyson and it really sunk in to the little dude, you know."

"All I wanted to see was Tyson's face when Antonio beat him. That's all."

"Well, I think your little plan may have backfired."

The elder joined him on the log he sat on, looking up at the stars.

"And I'm real glad it did."

-

The next morning they headed back to Tippecanoe, which where were the tournament took place, and Kai was royally annoyed at the show that was made out of the charity bey battle. He sighed.

"This is so stupid. This circus makes us all seem like a bunch of clowns." He said, and Kenny, whom was with him at the moment, asked.

"Wait a sec, you're not thinking of leaving, are you, Kai?"

"YO! You guys, this tournament rocks." Tyson said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Hn."

"Just wait until I show Tropical Storm Louis my sweet moves!" Tyson said, before showing 'some moves'. It just looked silly, Kai knew, and he wasn't even _watching_ him.

"But Kai, we're a team. We have to choose whose blading!" Kenny said.

"Hey, what's going on, you guys?" Ray asked, suddenly joining them.

"Just showing off. Did you check out those cool celebs?" Tyson asked.

"Ooh, uhm, no." Ray said, suddenly acting embarrassed, and... Was that a blush? "Not me. What cool celebs?" Tyson moved closer to Ray, looking closely at him, before suddenly ripping whatever it were that Ray was holding in his hands behind his back, from him.

"HAH! Got it!" Tyson exclaimed, before looking down on it. It was an autograph of the woman up there, J-Hearts. "Well, hey, you got a crush." Tyson teased. Ray's face was almost red with embarrassment. "Here you go, lover boy," Tyson said, handing it back. Somehow, rock, scissors and paper, became the way to solve the question of who was going to blade in today's charity match. Tension was thigh as Ray and Tyson prepared them self, and began playing, only to be interrupted by Max, who managed to win the small battle. "Scissors beats paper any day," he said, causing the other two boys to sigh.

"Okay, so Max is up. We got to show him our support." Kenny said, and then he looked at Kai.

"Hn." It looked like he was off to a day for himself again. He didn't mind, as he usually preferred that. However, he _did_ show up for the third round of the charity match, as it was a tie breaker, and he had a feeling that he was supposed to be there for it. But in the end, the mixed steam with Max on it won. Lucky for him, or there'd be a lot of training for him.

The next thing on their schedule was a trip to Las Vegas, where the rest of the tournament was going to take place. The charity battle was just a teaser for the real thing.

They headed to the stadium, which was named the Vegas Glitter Dome. They came there just in time to see the All Stars give an interview to some news lady, and Tyson, being himself, walked up to them to talk to them.

The two teams began talking to each other, and the topic? Bey blading, of course. The All Stars claimed that technology could win over anything, while the Bladebreakers excluding Kai claimed that practise and pure love of the game could win over _anything_, even technology.

"You sure like to keep your distance, so why is that, Kai?" Emily asked, walking up behind him where he stood watching his team mates.

"That isn't any of your business, Emily."

"I was just making an obvious observation. Why are you scared of your team mates?"

"I'm not scared of anything." Kai said, half turning towards her.

"I think you're afraid that if you get to know them, you might actually start to like them. As a scientist, I know things about people that they don't even know about themselves."

"Whatever."

"Fine then, but you might want to think about it." Emily said, before she walked back to where the All Stars were heading.

-

The tournament began without much ado the next morning. The Bladebreakers arrived in time to allow the chief to check the schedule and for them to realise that they had to go all the way to the finals if they were hoping to battle with the All Stars.

"Hey, that's cool. Now we have even more reason to go all the way, right Max?" Tyson said.

Max totally agreed with that. "Yeah!"

"Which one of us is going to start things off with a bang?" Tyson asked, looking at Kenny, whom suggested Ray.

"No. I will." Kai said, suddenly, catching them all off guard. While the announcements were made, Kai walked up to stand beside the rest of his team. Tyson looked at him.

"Hey, Kai? What made you decide to get in on the action?"

"It was... Emily."

"It was?"

"She wants to figure out what makes me tick. And let's see her try." _'But s__he will never be able to figure it out._' He thought as he walked up to the stadium.

Kai's opponent Miguel looked confident, but he obviously hadn't heard of Kai's reputation. The dish the two were going to compete in was a miniature version of the Grand Canyon, and was supposed to be really difficult.

'_I sure hope you're getting all this, Emily._' Kai thought, tuning out all the trash talking that Miguel did. He smirked as he caught sight of some scientists.

The two contestants prepared their blades, and the Jazzman counted them down to start. The blades ripped through the air. "Fly, Dranzer!" Kai called out as his blade left the launcher. Dranzer began attacking, while Kai watched emotionlessly. He knew he'd win. Miguel was a way to inexperienced blader to stand up to the might of his Dranzer.

"Hey, Kai, you must feel silly to replace Ray just to fall under the spell of my melody. So, are you ready to face the music?" The boy began to laugh, then stopped as he saw Kai's smirk. "Hey! Why are you smiling?"

"You can't play any music if you're strings have been clipped."

"No way!"

"At least my bey blade does requests. Yo, Dranzer, finish this!" Kai called out, and the flames of Dranzer erupted from his blade. In the middle of the fire storm, Dranzer came out to play. And play he did. He cut the strings on Miguel's blade, before sending it flying out of the stadium.

"This isn't fair! You ruined it!"

"M-hm." Unsurprisingly, he won.

"Way to show him, Kai!" Tyson said happily.

Kai smirked, looking at the approximate place where Emily would be sitting. '_So, still think you've got me figured out, Emily?_'

Switching with Max, who was going to battle next, he enjoyed hearing what his team mate said. "You were just awesome, Kai."

"Max. You've got some fans in the crowd."

"Huh? No way. Mom."

The second battle was interesting, but hardly noteworthy other than the fact that for once, Max had to attack to actually win. Never mind that he was more of a defensive person.

The third battle was taken by Tyson, who was facing the pissed off team captain of the Renegades. Jose's blade and Dragoon went head to head, and Jose managed to trap Dragoon in such a way it looked like Tyson was going to lose, but he called on Dragoon, who was quite eager get into the battle. And not only that, Dragoon brought along his trademark hurricane. Jose stood no chance. So in the end, it was a three against zero was that the winning score and the Bladebreakers advanced until the next battle.

"Hah, Savage Slammers. They look more like couch potatoes to me." Dizzy said the next morning when they arrived at the team pit to wait for the battles to begin.

"What's up with this? Just look at them!" Tyson said insulted, glaring at the other team, where one were sleeping, another one eating and the third one just staring out into the air. "I tell you, Chief, that Emily doesn't have a clue what she's talking about."

"Hey Dizzy?" Kenny looked down on his laptop. "Do you have any data on the Slammers?"

"I'm scanning files, but so far nada."

"Like that's going to help." Kai spoke up suddenly. "Face it; all those statistics are just useless."

"Chief, you mind giving him a smack for me?" Dizzy inquired.

"You know, I kind of agree with Kai on this one." Max said.

"Note to self; that's two smacks."

"Come on, guys, I say we should do our fighting in the stadium." Ray injected, trying to be the mediator.

Surprisingly, Ray lost the first round, giving the Slammers the lead, and putting pressure on the Bladebreakers to win the next two rounds if they were to advance. Following him, was Max to battle against Fernando from the Slammers. Tension was high on the team; if they lost this battle, they were out of the tournament. However, when Max called forth Draciel to battle, Fernando's blade ran out of the stadium on its own, seemingly frightened. Tyson was up next, and his opponent was Axel. The battle really frustrated Tyson, as Axel never shut up and allowed in to concentrate on the battle. However, it was not all lost, because in the end he managed to call out Dragoon, and with the hurricane that followed the blue dragon, Axel lost.

However, once Kai was sure the battle was over, he immediately left, as he knew the All Stars were blading in another wing of the Glitter Dome. He arrived in time to see the last minutes of Steve's battle. When that battle was over, the rest of his team arrived, letting them all see Michael's battle against some unknown dude.

"What kept you? The All Stars just advanced. They won two straight sets." Kai said, looking down on the stadium.

"Pretty impressive." Tyson commented.

"What did he say?" Max asked.

Their attention was taken by the roof opening and Michael arriving via a parachute, which was just plain showing off of talents, no doubt. Judy seemed annoyed by it, though.

Michael surprised them when it turned out that his baseball actually contained a bey blade. The battle begun, and Michael called forth Trygle, his bit beast, and the battle was over before it even started.

Mr. Dickenson walked up the Bladebreakers from behind, but it went unnoticed for a bit.

"He... shattered his bey blade." Ray said.

"Yeah." Max agreed.

"That Michael sure put on a show for the crowd, eh boys? Goes to show you what a little technology can do, which means you got your work cut out for you."

Kai laughed almost silently. '_Yeah, right. They don't scare me._'

-

The next morning, Tyson was late to arrive at the team pit. And when he did arrive, he looked more like zombie than a living human. He'd over eaten at the buffet restaurant they'd been on last night. Not only that, but he was confident that he was going to battle.

"But Tyson, you look like a zombie!" Kenny objected.

"So? That'll scare our opponents." Tyson replied.

"The only thing scary is your desperation." Kai said, standing up and walking to stand amongst his team members. "You can barely stand, let alone fight, Tyson."

"I may be a bit wobbly, but I'm fine."

"Are you kidding me? A light breeze can blow you over."

"Says you, Kai?!" Tyson replied. But the point was proven when Kenny blew some air at Tyson, and he fell to the floor.

"Someone has to substitute in the third session."

"It can't be either Max or me," Ray replied, and Kai continued.

"So I will."

"Kai? You mean?" Kenny asked.

"Are you sure?" Tyson said, before running to the bathroom again.

"Oh, that was some quick thinking, Kai."

"What other choice did we have, Kenny?"

"Don't pretend that this is a chore for you. You like to bey blade just as much as we do. You'll have fun filling in for Tyson." Kenny claimed.

"Hn. Not against this team, I will. Spintensity is one of those question mark teams. You never know what they're going to do." Kai replied.

Max was first up, and he looked to be in trouble, but after some time and some advices, he managed to win the battle that resembled a dance. He was followed by Ray, whose battle seemed more like a race of speed against Frankie's blade. However, speed was not everything, but Driger was fast enough to give the impression that it was. But in the end, Ray won the match.

The third battle, which was Kai against Mario, was just a formality, as their victory had already been secured. Kai knew that the battle was worthless, but that didn't he wasn't going for overkill. He summoned Dranzer, and the battle was over before you could say "cheese".

-

That evening, they spent most of their time at the hotel room, planning the next day's battles, and more importantly, who was going to blade. Kenny suggested, or rather, commanded Max to be benched, since the All Stars knew all his moves since their visit to the BBA facility. He wanted Kai to blade in Max's place.

Max claimed that he if spun, and won, his mother would want to spend more time with him and not the team she was coaching. That being said, he ran out of the room, leaving them to decide about whom were blading. Kai just stood leaned against the wall, not once voicing his opinion. '_Concentrate, Kai, just forget their petty problems._' He thought, before thinking about new ways to improve his blading technique.

After a meeting on the top of the hotel, Kai decided that he didn't want to battle, and gave it to Max, who was more than pleased to regain his battle. Kai didn't feel like blading tomorrow anyway.

The next day started with the finals of the American tournament. It had been decided earlier that Tyson would start off the finals, against whomever of the All Stars that it turned out that he was going to battle. When the battle begun, it turned out the first battle was Tyson versus Steve, and it was a bit interesting to watch, but Kai got the feeling that Tyson won it too easily. The second battle that followed, surprise, surprise, went to Steve as he brought bit beast into the matter. The third round of the first match continued, while Max, Kenny and Ray tried to figure out how they could possible win against Steve. Ray finally figured out that if Tyson was to stand a chance, then he would have to make up a new attack, seeing as the All Stars had already figured out all the existing attacks from Dragoon.

Tyson kept to the defensive, not quite certain what to do as Steve continued to attack. Kai's small advice about just letting him attack was frustrating, as Tyson didn't understand what he was hinting at. Steve began to become enraged with the continued attack that never led to anything, as it appeared that he wanted the battle to be over and done with. Kai confused the others when he just advised Tyson to let Steve attack him, and to only be on the defensive. Kenny began drawing conclusions about what was happening, which was that Dragoon was behaving like a bullfighter against a bull, and that meant that Tryhorn was losing power. Tyson attacked when Steve seemed to be losing his concentration, and Dragoon sent Tryhorn and Steve flying from the dish, giving the Bladebreakers the win.

Following up that battle was Ray, who was going to blade against Eddy of the All Stars. Ray tried his trademark Tiger Claw attack, but was deeply surprised when that backfired on him as Eddy slipped through his claws and attacked back, and two slams later Ray was out of the stadium. The second round began, and Eddy didn't waste any time with pleasantries, as his blade attacked, his scorpion bit beast nailing Driger on the spot, and causing him to lose his spin. This made the second round go to the All Stars even if there was another battle, and making the last battle the tie breaker.

However, before the battle even begun, Max began having cold feet, wanting Kai to battle in his stead as he was a more experienced blader, and would win without doubt. That didn't work out as Tyson and Kenny claimed that the battle was his, and the conversation ended when Kai agreed that it was Max's battle. Ray was enraged as he sat at the team bench and reminded Max that it was up to him to get them to the World Championship that would occur in Moscow.

The tie breaker battle began, and Max and Michael let the blades loose. The stadium was one of a baseball stadium design, and that made it a bit difficult, seeing as they also had a mission for the blades to carry, which was to make a homerun. Max and Draciel were almost through when Michael attacked, and as the dust cleared, Draciel was down for the count and Michael won the battle, which didn't even last for two minutes.

"Oh, this is terrible. How are we even supposed to compete against a team whose bey blades have been fully enhanced to the point of perfection?" Kenny exclaimed.

"You got to pull yourself together, now!" Tyson said, before turning to Max. "Don't give up, Max, you can do it! Don't worry about winning or losing; just give it your best shot."

"Best shot?! What do you think I've been doing all this time?" Max resorted.

"You've been way over-thinking all your moves, stop using your head so much and start playing from the heart. I know you want to beat the All Stars to prove to your mum how awesome you are. So get out there and beat them!" Tyson said, before walking back to the team bench and sitting down in an unconscious mimic of Kai's typical stance.

"Hey, wait, what are you trying to do to us here, Tyson? I wouldn't call that a pep talk! Max is doing everything he can to succeed, but he is being badly outclassed." Kenny said heatedly.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that one bit."

"So what?" Kai injected. "It doesn't matter if _you_ believe it, the question is; does Max believe it? He is the only one who can decide today's outcome."

"Kai! Enough with the riddles already!"

"What I mean is; until Max puts complete faith in his own abilities, he doesn't stand a chance." Kai said looking quite serious.

Surprisingly, in the next battle against Michael, Max was able to hold his grounds. He soon called forth Draciel, and beat back Michael's blade, and Max was able to knock him out of the stadium, which in turn made the third battle the tie breaker of the entire championship.

Kai watched as the All Stars talked together, and he had a bad feeling when Michael suddenly pulled of the glove on his right hand while laughing.

The third and final battle of the tournament started, and it was high tension in the air. This was it. Max and Michael let loose Draciel and Trygle and neither was late to call out their bit beast. Seconds later, when the dust cleared, it was possible to see that the two blades were head to head against each other.

"There must be a way to help him," Kenny said as he typed away on his laptop.

"You're just thinking of that now? We should have been ready for Michael's Power Pitch!"

"Hello, it's not called a secret weapon for nothing." Dizzi said.

"There must be a way for Max to use Michael's own power against him. So far, nothing comes to mind, and time is definitely running out." Kenny said.

"Hey, if you wanna know something, just ask the know-it-all." Dizzi said.

"That would be you, Kai?"

"I do know the solution, but Max needs to figure it out for himself." Kai turned his face to look challenging at Tyson, who stared dumbly at him.

"I don't believe you for a second. You're just saying that because you don't have an answer."

"No, Kai has a point," Kenny said, "hear me out; this is Max's battle, and we should put our complete trust in him, right, Dizzi?"

"I never second guess a man with a pocket protector."

'_Max, there is only one power capable of defeating your opponent, and it's up to you to discover it. Let's see if you have what it takes.'_ Kai thought as he watched the battle.

"Hey mom, guess what! I believe I can win! How super cool is that?" Max suddenly shouted and Kai smirked. He had realized it. Kai watched as Max attacked, using all the power that Trygle had against him, and in the end he managed to actually win the battle. The end of the tournament was a bit to sappy for Kai's taste, but it was poetic justice that blading spirit and the love of the game would win against science.

"Aren't you going to join them, Kai?" Mr. Dickenson asked.

"No. Why should I? They didn't even do anything worthy of a celebrating? It's only by a fluke that they won the tournament."

"Aw, you know, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, and I'm getting warm and fussy all over." Grandpa Granger said.

"Hn. They still have a long way to go. And I'm not planning to watch over them forever." Kai said, making Mr. Dickenson and Grandpa Granger laugh.

"Now what?"

"Your bark is worse than your bite," Mr Dickenson replied smiling.

While this little chat was taking place, the rest of the Bladebreakers were celebrating their victory with shouts of delight, and maybe even dreams of winning the World Championship.

The next day was spent relaxing for the entire team, minus Kenny, who was busy with some kind of research. Tyson, Max and Ray spent the day goofing around, while Kai found some empty back alley where he could train in silence, with no Tyson interrupt him. He enjoyed it, as he had never been one seeking for attention, only recognition for his skills.

**A/N:**

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to LEP, happy birthday to me... *Freeze* Ops, revealed myself? =O Yes, I turned 19 on this cold evening... :P

Anyway, I promised RobbXmonXlover that I'd have the chapter posted by today, so there you go. Hope you enjoyed it!

Also; I have a question: Would you prefer I split chapter one into two part and posted it with about 10k words each or leave it as it is? I, personally, believe that each chapter will be about 10k from now on, but I'm not entirely certain. PM me or leave a review stating your opinion, please.

But, happy Christmas everyone! And I better get back to my family party now :P cheers!

Lady Evans Potter


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